Following our front page article of a horrific incident of rape, in last Friday’s publication, the Laudium Sun was inundated with calls from readers complimenting us for running the story so that others are warned and at the same time commending us for not revealing any details of the victim. However, there were callers wanting to know details about the Laudium housewife who was brutally raped in her home by armed thugs, recently. For obvious reasons the Laudium Sun did not name the said woman, nor any of her family members, nor give any details or even clues as to who she could be or where about in Laudium she lives. Our article, was published with the purpose of warning local residents of the serious, crime-infested, dangerous times we are living in. The businessman named in our article is certainly not a family member of the victim, not even a distant family member, but happened to become aware of the horrible incident via a business associate who knew the victim, as she is a distant relative. Whilst some of the callers to our offices presumably had good intentions, wanting to know if they could assist the concerned woman in any way, other callers were plainly inquisitive and insensitive, and in their own style, made excuses such as that they needed the victim’s name in order to pray for her. One reader audaciously offered a Laudium Sun employee, a hefty sum, if she would divulge information about the victim. Alas, a peculiar comment was made by Laudium make-up entrepreneur, Rabia Ghoor, who said, it was a shame on the Laudium Sun for “running” the article and a shame “for taking somebody’s name”. It is extremely unfortunate that people such as Rabia prefer that Laudium and the surrounding community remain in the dark concerning crime and more so such cruel crime. We cannot understand why Rabia would feel aggrieved by us mentioning the name of the businessman who was aware of the rape incident. Our intention in mentioning the businessman’s name was to give more credibility to our report. Also, we hope that the article would encourage the community, especially our leaders, to do something constructive and come forward with concrete ideas to stop this hideous type of crime and attack on women and children within the community. One has to ponder over why Rabia would object to this, as surely our previous article made it very clear that we “will not publish any information that may reveal the identity of the victim or her family.” Our message to Rabia is simple, ‘we will neither stop warning our readers, nor hide the reality of the danger crime poses within the community. It is unfortunate that people like Rabia seemingly ‘make up’ innuendos for reasons best known to themselves. It is mischievous comments such as her’s that create dangerous and flawed misconceptions.
*After our article was published, a family member of the victim contacted the Laudium Sun saying that the victim was undergoing medical treatment and will be staying with her aunt, out of town. The family member requested prayers for the victim and her immediate family to have strength through this trying time and for them to hopefully heal.
