2014.09.17 | 22 Dhul Qa’da 1435

Guest contributor Saajida Malvina shares her disappointment at Judge Masipa’s ruling.

The world watches whilst South Africans continue to reel in shock, anger and dismay regarding last Thursday’s ruling. Judge Thokozile Masipa found the blade runner Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder, but of culpable homicide. Law experts were just as surprised. The reality is he did shoot at the door with the intent to kill – his girlfriend or the “intruder”.

People stormed across different platforms and social media to condemn the ruling – non-law experts who don’t understand the nitty gritty of the case. According to South African law it’s very difficult to convict a person for murder as it has to be ascertained beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was intended.

I am disappointed with the ruling.  I’ve followed his career from the time he had a court battle with the Olympics committee to take part in the paraplegic Olympics in which he won the case, up unto the time on February 14 when I awoke to hear the news that Pistorius admitted to killing his girlfriend. The next few nights were sleepless as I followed the saga interacting of all sorts of people in a bid to unpack the case.

Did I change my view during the trial? I admit I felt sorry for Pistorius, up until his emotional meltdown when I questioned whether he was pretending. We’ll never know what is in the heart, all except Allah, who is All Knowing (Al Aleem). Pistorius didn’t tell the truth we wanted to hear.

As a female human rights activist I don’t take kindly to the ruling. Statistics in our country (2012 MRC Gender and Health) prove that 1 in every 2 women murdered in SA is murdered by her lover or partner. The statistics are appalling but it’s apparently down from the previous years. The moot point is that the sentencing did not send a strong message to these murderers. It has angered me and many women groups I know as it means that men still get away with (literal) murder.

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