Apparently he could be out in August! How the hell can this be right? What kind of message does this send out? Every day I think the World is getting worse and then stories like this come up and I realise it is.
And meanwhile Chris Lewis is being released after serving just over six years of his thirteen year sentence for drug smuggling, something that I don't believe involved him murdering anyone in cold blood. Like you say, it's a funny old world
A good analogy there Munky. On another note, did you see the New York cops laying into the black woman who was wearing nothing more threatening than a bikini! They pulled guns on her as well!!!! FFS!
Yes of course he did wrong, he got caught and he should have been punished accordingly. But thirteen years when rapists, drink driving murderers and child abusers get a fraction of that is nonsense if you ask me.
I suppose that this is the bonus of being a celebrity. Probably didn't harm him that he has a visible disability and he is(was) a hero to many South Africans.Had he been just a coloured guy from the townships who shot his partner whilst they were alone in their own house he probably would not have seen the outside world for a couple of decades. If I am ever in a spot of bother with the authorities I will certainly look his defence team up - repeatedly shoots an unarmed woman through a door after a blazing row with a known history of messing around with guns and claims she may have been a big scary burglar to justify his actions and actually gets away with a manslaughter conviction and potentially out in a year or so - stunning work.
Do drug dealers not cause more damage than a rapist. I'd argue they could potentially do a heck of a lot more to a lot more people. I say this having no idea what he smuggled.
The victims I think you'll be referring to (users and addicts I'm guessing) at least have a choice, unlike the victims of those crimes I listed. And if you're talking about the people damaged in terms of the production and supply (people of the Amazonian region I'm guessing) then plenty of other industries considered more ethical are just as damaging.
I suppose it is a question of whether you consider concentrated harm on an individual via rape/assault/murder as deserving of more punishment than possible greater cumulative disparate harm caused by the drugs trade. Cost to the individual or their family as opposed to the cost to society. I think most people intuitively want punishments to try to deter more personal crimes but the legal system does take a broader view on behalf of society as a whole. Still think that OP got off extremely lightly though!
I wouldnt say drug taking is exclusively choice. Prostitutes have them forced upon them, emotionally damaged people see them as an outlet, society has its own pressures, there are plenty of desperate people out there to take advantage of.
And there are also plenty of other drug dealers out there, ready to provide their 'fix'. Don't think there were many other people queueing up to shoot and kill Reeva Steenkamp, or to rape the thousands of victims of that most abhorrent crime. A drug dealer doesn't have to deal with the morale issues of whoever they are supplying to as if they decided that way of life wasn't for them anymore they know their punters can and will get it from somebody else. Anyone who rapes or kills another human being knows they are going to have a monumentally horrific effect on their victim, not to mention their family and people they are close to. I can kinda see where you're trying to come from, but I don't agree with you.
