I wonder what people locked up in dinghy prison cells for killing rhinos think about the Oscar Pistorius affair.
One poacher was sentenced to 77 years in prison, while two others were jailed this year for a total of 16 years for killing a rhino in the Kruger National Park.
All of them targeted the animals for their horns, which fetch a high price in Asian countries.
They could, of course, have argued that they didn’t mean to kill the rhinos. They weren’t sure they were rhinos, anyway. The animals may have posed a threat to them. The shots they fired were prompted by fear. They couldn’t think properly and their guns just went off.
But they killed them anyway, and no amount of sobbing and vomiting into a bucket in court about their ‘mistake’ saved them from heavy sentences.
People might also wonder what had happened to all of Pistorius’ money. According to some reports, the ‘Blade Runner’ earned about US$2 million a year for performing athletic feats on his prosthetic legs in international events. He was a hero to many South Africans.
Now, it is claimed, he is broke. He doesn’t have two dum-dum bullets to rub together. But where has all the money gone? Even after his legal fees, there should be plenty left, not just a little from the sale of a car.
Some prison inmates might wonder if he hasn’t buried the money, so he could unearth it later. That is what any canny criminal would do. There are many other ways to hide money, too; it doesn’t have to be buried in the backyard.
In Pistorius’ case, he killed a human being, his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. The price he pays could be only 10 months in jail, with the rest of the five-year term served under house arrest after Judge Thokozile Masipa, showing “mercy”, sentenced him for culpable homicide.
He can take off his orange prison uniform, slip into a dark suit and head for the comforts of home. It is not something that Gerrie Nel, who is appealing the verdict and sentence, and his prosecution team would like to see happen.
Why only five years when many people thought it should have been a longer time in jail?
South African law professor Stephen Tuson says: “The number ‘five years’ was not an ordinary number, it was carefully selected.” According to the Criminal Procedure Act, one-sixth of a jail sentence can be converted to house arrest, if the sentence is not more than five years. If it had been longer, going home would not have been an option for Pistorius.
What galls me is that Pistorius has been seen as an unfortunate athletics hero, one caught up in a feverish legal machine. Why feel sorry for him? He heard a noise, didn’t bother to check where Steenkamp – who had been sharing his bed – was. He didn’t call out to her. He grabbed his gun, walked to the restroom, fired four shots through the toilet door, and killed her.
Steenkamp was the victim. So, too, are her family. It’s not Pistorius. Pleas for a light sentence almost made me vomit, too.
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