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17 February 1995
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Sometimes a murder is
committed in the heat of the moment and the murderer lives to regret his violent
action. On finding such a murderer guilty, I have no problem with the
Judge deciding upon a suitable sentence other than the death penalty. There are
other
times however, when the murders are so brutal that society is outraged and
I believe that the death penalty should remain an option
e.g.
I when a
murderer is found guilty of more than one murder
· rapists who murder
their victims so that they cannot be identified
3 gangsters robbing banks etc
and killing anybody who tries to stop them
A death sentence does not
imply that life is cheap, on the contrary, it implies that life is precious
and
announces to would-be murderers that they will pay with their lives if
they take the life of another human being.
Judges are able to show
clemency when there are mitigating circumstances but when a murder is so
deliberate and cruel, they must have
the right to pronounce the death sentence
and I am opposed to the Constitution preventing them from doing this. Should
there ever
be any doubt about the wisdom of a Judge's verdict, then the State
President should have the right to commute the death sentence
to life
imprisonment.
Those who advocate the removal of the death penalty say
that capital punishment makes us a draconian state which may have been true
some
years ago, but the problem in South Africa right now is that society is becoming
more and more violent just as our judicial
system is becoming more and more
lenient.
You have invited members of the'public to write to you and so I
trust that this appeal will not go unheeded.
Yours
faithfully
R A SOUTHALL
SYFRETS . REG
NO 04101741106. A OF THE NEDCOR GROUP
DMMORS: 1J S- (Ch-) CP B." (Ch..fE--)
RCM PFMC M.M WA ~, D, LA P- DIR-.
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