If something is rotten in the state of Denmark, it is past putrid in Jamaica. On the same day that you reported the case of two murder accused spending four years in jail without a trial date being set, there was the bizarre case of a man being given a suspended sentence for raping a woman - albeit he buggered her.

What is the public to conclude from the latter case - that it is a lesser evil for a man to rape a woman any which way than if the victim were a man? Would Mr Ernie Smith's earnest pleas for mercy be given equal consideration?

Since when is past non-deviant behaviour a mitigating factor for the brutal violation of a woman? What really is the evil at work in Jamaica? And where is the voice of the pontificating Lawyers' Christian Fellowship on this travesty?

I am, etc.,

C. Barnswell

barnswellc@yahoo.co.uk

Kingston 6