The Mail Online reports that a famous former rugby player has been arrested in South Africa after allegedly butchering at least three people to death with an axe. A newspaper claimed the unnamed 34-year-old sportsman had launched a murderous rampage in revenge after his daughter was gang-raped and infected with HIV.
The star is due to appear in court tomorrow to face three charges of murder and one of attempted murder in relation to a fourth alleged victim who apparently managed to escape. One of the dead men was named as Paulos Hlongwa, a 46-year-old whose body was found last week in Merebank. Police said his head was later discovered in a dustbin more than a mile away. The decomposing bodies of the other victims were found later last week. Police spokesman Anton Booysen said one of them had been almost fully-decapitated. He added: ‘His head was hanging by nothing more than a nerve.’
Local media today reported that the sportsman had played for the top-flight Blue Bulls rugby side, based in Pretoria. Under South African law police are not permitted to name a suspect in a crime until they have appeared in court.
However officials indicated it was likely the star’s identity could be publicly withheld even after tomorrow’s scheduled hearing, in order to protect the dignity of his daughter following the speculation she had been raped. Meanwhile some fear the tragedy could create fresh fissures in South Africa’s fragile race relations. The vast majority of South African rugby stars are white and it is possible the suspect could be accused of deliberately targeting black victims.
Meanwhile, the suggestion that he was acting out of revenge for his daughter’s alleged rape could spark a new debate about the effect of crime in a country where many live in constant fear of violence.
TrueblueNZ 
8 responses to “General Debate 31/03/11”
I just made one of my occasional sojourns over to thestandard.org . . . the siege mentality and the sheer paranoia of the place. Incredible.
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Another case where we need more details before commenting, albeit if the alleged facts are correct, one could certainly identify with the rugby player’s emotions.
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From Drudge:
A Colorado Springs “birther,” retired Air Force Col. Gregory Hollister, has Internet blogs abuzz with what may be an illegal foray into an online Social Security data base and how he obtained a copy of President Barack Obama’s draft registration from 1980.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/springs-115381-colorado-obama.html
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Rape in South Africa is an epidemic. How prevalent is debateable with varying frequencies being reported.
– The Institute of Race Relations found that more than 52,000 rapes were reported in 2000, and 40% of the victims were under age 18.
– The University of South Africa reports that 1 million women and children are raped each year (2002).
– Interpol (2010) estimates that for the past five years an average of 1.6m to 1.7m women and children have been raped every 12 months in a country of 42m people. As many as 30% will become HIV-positive if they don’t receive preventative medication.
– Sexual violence against children, including the raping of infants, has increased 400% over the past decade.
– Last year (2009) in Kwazulu-Natal, in December alone, more than 500 young children were admitted to hospital after being raped. Some of the victims, just a few months old, didn’t survive.
-A female born in South Africa now has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read.
– The South African Human Rights Commission has said that lesbians living in South Africa are being subjected to “corrective rape” and severe violence by men trying to “cure” them of their sexual orientation.
– There is the superstition that raping a virginal child cleanses a man of HIV/Aids and is a key reason for child rape.
– In a survey conducted among 1,500 schoolchildren in the Soweto township, a quarter of all the boys interviewed said that ‘jackrolling’, a term for gang rape, was fun.
-Rape activists claim the ANC government is effectively complicit in these crimes pointing out the misogyny in government, the lack of investment in clinics and training programmes for rape counsellors, and a profound lack of willingness to tackle this nightmare head-on.
-The current and polygamous President, Jacob Zuma, himself has appeared in court on rape charges (as well as for corruption). That he was not convicted is because of political interference.
………….and of course Apartheid (which ended 21 years ago) is to blame.
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And all of this non-apartheid paradise thanks in small part to the greatness of the erudite John Minto and his fine convictions.
If ever proof is needed that some cultures are simply not yet up to dealing with modern society, many countries in Africa are a fine example, Zimbabwe and South Africa prime amongst them.
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“That he was not convicted is because of political interference.”
At least he went to court. I would like know why Hughes has not been charged yet?
I suspect political interference. I got another 30 demerits on KB for suggesting Tinkerbell MIGHT have a part to play in this. I know Maori cross party lines to press for certain things they all agree on. Women do as well. I have no doubt homosexuals do as well to press for things like homsexual adoption.
I do not think the possibility that Hughes and Tinkerbell may have hooked up is unreasonable. After all Hughes tried it on with an ACT staffer.
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It’s taking a while but a once great South Africa will end up where so many other former productive countries are now or have recently been i.e. in the shit.
Rhodesia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone,Ghana,Nigeria.Kleptocracies. And don’t even start on the former French and Belgian ones which ,unlike the British colonies were poorly administered.
Funny how modern politics and consumerism has brought the former colonial powers to the brink of disaster,socially,financially and morally.
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The vast majority of South African rugby stars are white and it is possible the suspect could be accused of deliberately targeting black victims.
Um, if he murdered the guys who raped his daughter it sounds like he was deliberately targetting rapists…
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