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DISPLAY OF NUDE PICTURES APPALLING - JUDGE QINISILE

31/07/2015 07:30:00 BY KWANELE DLAMINI

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MBABANE – Judge Qinisile Mabuza said the display in the media of the nude pictures of the woman who was caught naked with her husband at Ngculwini was appalling.

The judge, who was speaking during the discussions in the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Fair Trial colloquium at Nkonyeni Golf Estate yesterday, said there was a need to partner with the media in as far reporting on such issues was concerned.

The conference is held courtesy of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
“How do we partner with the press so that they can be kinder in their reporting? We were appalled by the display of the woman’s nudity. We didn’t know how to intervene. It went on for a week and a number of women were concerned,” Judge Mabuza said.

The naked couple was caught on May 6, 2015 by businessman Vusi Dlamini of Ngculwini at about 9:30pm in his premises. They were with their three-year-old son, who was also naked.
They confessed to being responsible for a number of deaths in the community. The area’s chief was called to the scene where residents crammed the area and there was a motor vehicle providing light for the couple to be viewed by those present. They were transported to Mafutseni Police Station still in the nude.

The head of the family, who is a priest, where the couple lives, has since been given a seven-day ultimatum to leave the area. The seven-day ultimatum ends on Sunday According to Shamila Batohi, who is Senior Legal Advisor of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), forced nudity is a sexual crime on its own.

Batohi said in the context of South African law, if there was an element of crimen injuria, there would have been a clear charge for the offence.

The objectives of the conference include; enabling stakeholders to define, analyse and understand sexual and gender-based violence and its impact on women’s human rights, to enhance the application of international and regional law at domestic level by professionals in the judicial system in cases of sexual and gender-based violence and to develop effective strategies to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence.