I have found recent pronouncements on the judgement passed by Judge Masipa to be in bad taste. Indeed, some have bordered on character assassination on the person of the learned judge. I cannot sit and accept this tirade when it is becoming increasingly clear that the attacks are coated to look and sound academic and rational when they are in fact misogynistic and racial. Those attacking her, including The Independent Newspapers (The Star and Saturday Star) and the Sunday Times (all attacked her on their front pages) must show how the State proved its case, that the accused committed the crime of murder beyond reasonable doubt. Without claiming to be a law expert (I failed law. On that later, perhaps one day); the judge outlined how Oscars version of the timing of events sounded more probable than the one presented by the prosecution. This, on its own, would have triggered any reasonable mind to have some form of a doubt... Be it as it may, what this case shows is that the SA legal system needs to be overhauled so that decisions made resonate with our common understanding rather being caught in a frameless Latin of sorts...
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 14:20:08 +0000