Klerksdorp, 26 September, 2019 / 12:10 am (ACI Africa).
After the outcry against gender-based killings targeting women and girls in South Africa that was termed a crime against humanity, the most recent murder of a 31-year-old expectant mother in the country “is shocking,” Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp, South Africa, has told ACI Africa.
According to local media in South Africa, Primary schoolteacher Karen Turner who was three months pregnant was stabbed to death by unknown people on Tuesday, September 25 while on a family vacation at Hluleka Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape province of one of Africa’s most industrialized country.
“It is shocking, to hear of this murder of a pregnant mother of a two-year-old,” Bishop Phalana told ACI Africa Wednesday and added, “It is just beyond my understanding.”
Following the incident, Bishop Phalana who heads the Justice and Peace commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) emphasized the need to “speak out against gender-based violence” in the country while making every effort “to (conscientize) our boys and men to continue treating women and girls with respect.”
In order to help curb such violence, the Prelate called for tough punishments on perpetrators of the crime saying, “Perpetrators must be arrested swiftly and receive hefty sentences. This might be a deterrent to would-be-abusers.”
