Triumph in the tears
THE man who raped and killed little Iyapha Yamile, a 4-year-old girl from Khayelitsha, has been handed three life sentences, meaning he will spend at least the next 25 years behind bars.
Once his first life sentence has been served, his other two sentences need to be taken into account before he is considered for parole.
This is a victory for the criminal justice system.
There are too many instances where the lives of our children, often among the most vulnerable and the future of this country, are snuffed out before their light has a chance to impact on the lives of others.
How many future doctors, lawyers, lawmakers, teachers, nurses and social workers must be taken away from us before this epidemic is stopped?
Harsh sentences certainly can play a role as a deterrent.
Communities also play a role in protecting the lives of our children. We saw the role a community can play in the support of the victims of violent crimes.
Iyapha’s mother, Sindiswa, was surrounded by supporters when Odwa Nkololo was sentenced yesterday to three life terms by Western Cape High Court Judge Diane Davis.
Sindiswa Yamile has been a pillar of strength throughout the trial, but when her child’s killer was finally sent down in shackles, she broke down in tears, wailing through the eerie silence that fell over the courtroom, all present touched by her pain.
The women who had been supporting her formed a barrier of love around her, singing mournful songs.
This picture of mothers mourning as men who had raped and murdered their children are led to their manacled fate is seen far too often in South Africa.
Tomorrow, Aviwe Hoya will be sentenced for the rape of five Khayelitsha schoolchildren, one of whom took her own life as a result of the trauma she suffered, and there will again be five mothers in mourning, wailing in the courtrooms to a sorrowful chorus of supporters.
We can only hope for the harshest possible sentence, and that in meting out such, other would-be perpetrators would be discouraged from committing such heinous crimes.
Perhaps in the knowledge that those responsible will pay the highest price permitted under South African law, the victims and their families may find some measure of closure.