Rulings by officers of the Court, where, in most instances, the punishment is either too severe for a mere misdemeanour or not severe enough — especially in instances of armed robbery, home invasions, rapes and sexual misconduct, domestic abuse, and even murder — are incensing the general public, which has time and again expressed disgust at the irrational and unreasonable sentences handed down by seemingingly unconscionable magistrates and/or judges.

Newspaper archives are replete with horror stories of carjackings and tragic aftermaths, where bodies of owners/drivers were found subsequent to the theft of their vehicles, or disappeared altogether if they were not lucky enough to escape from the carjacker, while the vehicles vanished as though by magic, right into the maws of unscrupulous mechanic shop owners.
The carjackers — and I daresay potential murderers, if they have not as yet committed the ultimate crime– then enjoy, along with their relatives and friends, a short time of living well, even luxuriously, off their spoils before they embark on another foray to wrest someone’s property, and probably their life, away from them.
When caught, they are given a rap on the knuckles by some sympathetic judge or magistrate, then let loose to prey once more on society and innocent and hardworking citizens.
The criminals are full of glee, because they are licenced to commit as many crimes as they want by these officers of the Court. After all, no matter how many crimes of a similar nature they commit (with the consequential destruction of lives and living of their victims and their families), their sentences will be reduced to serving minimal time for only one crime, with sentences running concurrently: As for the dealers who purchase the stolen vehicles, they get off without any sanction whatsoever, because they are given ‘deals’ and not prosecuted at all.
According to one media report: “Before handing down the sentence, the Chief Magistrate took into consideration the seriousness of the offence; the convict’s plea; the saving of the Court’s time; and the other pending matters of a similar nature…” Note should be taken here that the felon had “… other pending matters of a similar nature”, which the magistrate cited as being a mitigating factor for a lenient sentence. He did not take into consideration the many lives said defendant had shattered, nor the fact that he is a threat to other potential victims as soon as he is released less than three years from the date of his incarceration.
So, where is the justice in the legal system?