My Take: Are ‘Scales of Justice’ biased?

AFRICA is certainly not for sissies.

People living in the “nanny countries” like New Zealand probably have to go for counselling when a bag is snatched, which is said to be one of their most heinous crimes.

Here, bag snatching hardly rates a mention except for a “by the way…” type comment when trying to think of something to say to one’s partner to pass the time during load shedding.

In fact, bag snatching is becoming quite rare in this country as most women know how to hang onto them and have become more street-wise. Stashing a credit card down one’s brassier is much safer, although not so dignified when it comes to paying at the till.

Even housebreaking is becoming “two-a-telly” and a victim only warrants a personal headline if he/she is someone famous like part-time Pennington resident Steve Hofmeyr.

Official crime stats are a total farce as most people don’t even bother to report the incident unless they need a “case number” to claim from insurance. Even then it’s a toss-up in some cases, as a colleague at our sister newspaper, the South Coast Herald, discovered recently.

Her home in Ramsgate was “invaded” by a drug-crazed gang about two years ago. Thanks to her and her husband’s bravery and quick thinking, they managed to ward off their attackers and only sustained some bad lacerations.

The culprits were arrested shortly afterwards. It should have been “blood under the bridge” by now, but they are still constantly reminded of their night-of-terror by countless delays in court.

They have spent hours and hours getting numb bums on court benches the past two years, still with no conviction in sight. Last week, one of the alleged attackers fired his State-appointed attorney and the case was postponed yet again.

To add insult to injury, they were told to stand in some queue for ages only to discover eventually that the State owed them a magnanimous R97 for their time wasted in court. They didn’t have their IDs (drivers’ licences weren’t good enough) so they forfeited the “reward”.

Criminals seem to have become more court savvy and are adept at delaying proceedings with these and other tactics.

The longer they can get the case delayed the better chance they have of getting off, as their victims and witnesses die, move on or just forget the finer details.

One is hesitant to sanction rural “kangaroo courts” that administer quick justice like an order to pay reparations, accompanied by a lashing with a sjambok.

But surely, in a crime-ridden country like ours, there must be some discussion or thought going into how to speed up the justice system? The way things are at the moment, there definitely is a perception that the law favours the criminal far more than the victim.

Is this an unfair observation? We would love to hear from legal minds.