We know that some people tend to think that when a man is the victim of an intimate fatality, women and other members of the society turn a blind eye and do not complain or criticise nearly as much as if it were a woman as the victim. Gender-based violence, against male or female, is a scourge that has to be smote. Statistically, however, it is becoming increasingly apparent that record shows much more women and children are by far the most vulnerable and more likely to be victims than men. It is a fact that women are the ones that suffer loss of life at the hands of their ‘lovers’. Shockingly, there seems to be a time period where killings between intimate partners go on the rise. Such murder cases go on the increase as if passion killing is in season – if it can even be described as – which makes perpetrators look like they are in some kind of sport or are somehow under the influence and pressure to assert a skewed sense of masculinity or dominion over the feminine and young, tragically ending in heinous crimes. Last week Friday, yet another murder suspect appeared before the courts. Disgustingly, those in court could hear the suspect bragging about the murder, which showed the young man’s sense of entitlement and lost sense of righteousness to establish dominion over another human including the decision to end her life. He was not remorseful at all about his deeds nor did he care much for the consequences of his own actions. There can never be justification of why a spouse or intimate partner, save for a provable case of self-defence, kills the one they claim to love above all. Of late, stories that have been coming to the fore in some of the murder incidents speak of a woman cheating, wounding her significant other, who finds her deserving of nothing short of death, not forgiveness or accepting the end of the road for that relationship. Dear brothers, it does not give you the right to kill another person, just because you discovered they are cheating on you! There are a number of options to be explored once a partner discovers that their ‘lover’ is cheating. None of those should ever lead up to murder. The simplest and yet hardest to do would be to walk away from the relationship, if forgiveness and remorse are not on the table. A couple can also choose to seek professional help if both parties still want to save the relationship. There is a popular saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.” Dear brothers, you cannot force someone who no longer loves you to stay with you, no one person owns another. These women are your partners, not your property, and they have the right to life and peace just as much as you do. Stop the senseless killing, which has far more reaching effects than your broken heart and wounded pride can ever know.
