Why so much publicity around Dros incident?

Violent rapes happen all the time in SA, yet get very little media coverage, writes John.

It is a fact that we live in an extremely violent society, so violence against women is to be expected. We have 116 rapes a day. Gang rapes and “jackrolling” are prevalent. The youth believe that jackrolling is not a crime but a “game” – a sport of the “tough youngsters”. Extreme violence has, unfortunately, become acceptable in South Africa.

Individual rapes abound. A grandson rapes his elderly grand- mother. Babies are cruelly raped. A terminally ill woman is raped in a hospital. Two young girls are raped and then hanged. Youngster are murdered after being raped.

Farmers’ wives and daughters are brutally tortured and then violently raped, many not surviving the ordeal.

The horrific list goes on and on. These atrocious deeds get very little publicity in the media, very little outrage and, in many cases, go unnoticed.

Yet a young man allegedly rapes a seven-year-old girl in a restaurant toilet and it goes viral. It is extensively covered, on a daily basis, in the news media and on TV.

Lengthy discussions are held and the terrible deed emphatically denounced. Outraged residents protest outside the court, singing, dancing and issuing venomous verbal threats. Politicians jump on the bandwagon, condemning the heinous deed.

Can someone please explain why this particular rape case is unique from the hundreds of others that are barbarically committed on a daily basis, and why it is getting this overwhelming publicity?