Is there justice in a big cheque?

22 May 2015 - 02:08 By Dominic Skelton

A discount on a rape sentence costs just R100,000. That was the price two men were ordered to pay in two different cases in the Pretoria High Court in the past week.But should a rapist be able to buy his way out of a harsher prison sentence?For some, the courts' focus on restorative justice is to be lauded whereas others think rapists should not be allowed to buy their way to freedom.Sentencing former doubles tennis champion Bob Hewitt, 75, this week for raping two of his teen tennis students more than 30 years ago, Judge Bert Bam suspended a part of Hewitt's total prison sentence on condition that he pays R100,000 to be used for campaigns against the abuse of women and children.Last week Judge Moses Mavundla set aside the seven-year prison term of Aboo Baker Seedat, 63, for raping a woman, and instead ordered him to pay the woman R100,000 over three years.This after the woman had asked the court not to send Seedat to jail but order him to buy her a car and pay her R245,000.Seedat had agreed.The judge said the circumstances called for a restorative approach to justice when the woman's wishes and Seedat's age and ill health were taken into account, although he found the suggested amount "rather excessive".Justice Minister Michael Masutha said at the budget presentation of the Department of Justice and Correctional Services to parliament this week that the increased use of restorative justice was part of his plan to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system."It is crucial that the victim becomes the centre of our efforts as the government to improve the confidence in the criminal justice system," Masutha said.Mike Batley, director of the Restorative Justice Centre, said restorative justice, which emphasises repairing the harm caused by a crime, should be integrated more into the criminal justice system."Given the significant monetary value, there is a risk that it will be perceived as being available only to the wealthy," said Batley. "However, it must be remembered that the basic terms of the sentence were agreed to by the victim and the offender."If the circumstances had been different, the terms would have been different."He said that, in instances of sexual violence, a process that allowed a victim to reclaim some sense of dignity could be "profound".But Women and Men against Child Abuse advocacy manager Germaine Vogel said a punitive approach was the only way to deal with rapists."Time in prison is the only way to send out the message to rapists, no matter how old, sick, rich, poor, famous they are, or how long ago it happened," Vogel said."Allowing financial transactions in the name of restorative justice in rape cases will minimise the seriousness of sex crimes."Batley said it must be remembered that the basic terms of the sentence in the Seedat case were agreed to by Seedat and the woman.Professor of procedural law at the University of Pretoria Annette van der Merwe said it was important to introduce a compensation scheme for crime victims in South Africa other than the costly and time-consuming option of civil claims.She said there must be proper guidelines for restorative justice, noting that the Seedat case did not have all the components of a truly restorative approach...

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