While addressing the Women Sector of the National AIDS Council at police headquarters on gender-based violence last week, Kapinga said that in a recent incident in Takatokwane, a man killed his girlfriend, dug a hole, buried her and then burnt her.
Kapinga noted that passion killings are an emergency and all sectors of society must be in unison against the barbaric acts. He said the police have made a deliberate decision that if they receive reports that a person has threatened his or her partner, they will arrest and charge the culprit with the offence of ‘threatening to kill’. He noted that none of the people who have reported threats from their partners have been killed.
Kapinga said that the law has been changed to increase the punishment for rapists living with HIV/AIDS. He noted that some rapists use condoms while others do not. He lamented that there was no state-funded compensation to victims of crime. The women sector had inquired about compensation for rape as a crime against the state.
Kapinga said that withdrawal of reported cases of gender-based violence such as rape involving minor children, imbeciles, and people with mental disorders are not accepted. He said in other cases, they draw the line and make a decision on whether the withdrawal is due to intimidation or blackmail.
The police also take persons wishing to withdraw a case to a magistrate who determines if he or she has reasonable grounds to withdraw.
