No mercy, none, ever

ALL violence against women and children is appalling. It is a scourge upon our conscience that we have the scale of the problem that we do and that of all the countries in the world, we seem to fare the worst of all with this seemingly ineradicable problem.

There is a particular kind of violence against children, though, that is totally beyond the pale, even worse than the tyranny that many women and minors are forced to endure – child pornography.

If violence against women and children is difficult to combat because of its secret nature, then the sinister underworld of this horrid perversion takes it to another level altogether, which is why we rejoice at the news of a breakthrough in KwaZulu-Natal this week involving three alleged child pornographers. It is illuminating that the men met on online and then became friends, allegedly over their shared perversity, meeting to swop illicit material over beers and braais. They were caught when one of them went onto a dark website monitored by US law enforcement and then split on his friends when South African police officers arrested him.

It is believed the ring of perverts could extend all the way to Gauteng, as detectives start unravelling this web of filth. We wish the officers every success in closing the net on these individuals. We hope they will gather sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute them and have them removed from society for a very long time.

The reality, though, remains; it takes a village to raise a child. We dare not look away, we dare not shut up when we see people preying upon children or attacking women.

We must stand as one. Only then can we turn the tide, sending out the unequivocal message that there will be no mercy shown nor any place to hide for scum like this.