The justice system and law enforcement agencies can do little to control the sexual exploitation of children. As a prosecutor, I have watched defence lawyers use the full extent of their skill and powers to intimidate, badger, cajole and confuse bewildered little girls under cross-examination.
I have watched magistrates routinely declare child victims unreliable witnesses and acquit accused rapists. Lawyers then pocket their grubby bundles and drive in luxury to their offices, where they are held in high esteem and regarded as successful people, role models for young men. This pitiful drama plays daily in courtrooms around our country.
Child victims seldom possess the powers of language articulation and comprehension necessary to meet the unrealistic standard of evidence required for a criminal conviction. Which is why they are prone to exploitation in the first place.
Abuse of children arises from a failure of fatherhood. Every child has a father who has a natural duty to protect her from harm, with his life if it comes to that. Fathers also have a natural duty to show their sons that they value women and cherish children, and thereby transfer masculine virtues to succeeding generations. This is not happening enough.
Political leaders are fathers too, at least figuratively, having assumed positions of authority and leadership. They must show that they care. But they don’t really care while they busily pursue personal power. As a result, we are a country without fathers. Richard Okes, Kommetjie
The horrific rape of a nine-month-old in Louisvaleweg, Upington, by six inebriated men, is a damning reminder of the power of alcohol to bring out the cannibal in humans.
I hope this barbaric act will stimulate those of us touched by it to do something to rid our society of the scourge of alcohol and the myth that it will lift our spirits as we approach the festive season. I hope the many alcoholics who remain in denial realise how barbarically they behave towards their spouses and children when they return home intoxicated.
Our government should start in earnest to stop all forms of alcohol advertising, as with tobacco. We must stop using stars and sportsmen to glamourise alcohol. Alcohol decapitates the thinking head from the body and brings out the barbaric.
Incarcerating children and having more police is not enough if we do not tackle the scourge of alcohol. Dr EV Rapiti, Mitchells Plain