Of Jumpers and Monsters

Two reports dominated the front page of New Zealand’s largest circulating newspaper, the New Zealand Herald today.

The first featured photos of the dungeon of Horror in Austria where a 73 year old man had kept his own daughter captive for 24 years and fathered SEVEN children by her!
The repugnance I feel for this act is so solid I can almost touch it. What drives a man to commit such a heinous crime? What level of depravity? I cannot relate on any level to this episode and I wonder how much this is going to hurt the psyche of Austria the country.

Invariable comparisons are drawn between this case and that of the now 20-year old girl who was held in captivity for about a decade by a man before escaping last year.
In that case, you watch in morbid fascination and hope no one you care about ever gets into the hands of such a predator.

But how do you ward against your own father? One of the nearest and closest persons to you?!
Repugnant. Sick. Horrifying.

And I wondered what sort of punishment would be appropriate to this crime? The death penalty is out anyway with Austria as a member of the EU, and besides like a colleague of mine rightly pointed out, a quick death is probably too good for this monster. What crimes would he be charged with anyway? News reports indicate Incest, Kidnapping, intent to cause bodily damage and maybe even murder as one of the children he fathered died at birth and get this… was burnt!!!

My God… I am squirming in my seat and boiling with rage all at the same time!

I would suggest assemble a team of the best doctors first, and then proceed to drag him behind a car everyday, get the doctors to treat him and get him back to health. And then brand him with hot irons everyday while infecting him with a slowly debilitating disease. As a start.

It galls to know that he will spend the remainder of his life being poked by doctors in fancy institutions at the state’s expense eating three square meals and not having to show any remorse for his deeds.


The other story on the front page today was of a 28 year old guy who attempted to jump into the harbour from the balcony of an eight floor seaside apartment. He landed on the concrete walkway and died instantly. Sounds pretty stupid doesn’t it? He had a few beers in him and had been described as an avid snow boarder and general outdoors type.

For those of you who don’t know, New Zealand is the land of the great outdoors. Sky-diving, scuba diving, Surfing, white-water rafting, snowboarding, skiing, Bungee jumping are part and parcel of the tourist industry here in New Zealand. The topography and geography of the land has made kiwis into one of the most outdoors people in the world. Adventure and a sense of pushing your limits be it on a bush trek or mountain range, is part and parcel of the kiwi experience. The fact that the conqueror of Mt Everest is a kiwi was no accident at all.

But jumping off an eighth floor apartment into the harbour still seems a bit hare-brained.

I have every intention of going Sky-Diving, Bungee Jumping and Scuba diving just as soon as I get off the blood-thinning medication I have been on for the last year and a half. Apparently I am not allowed to do these high-risk endeavours while my INR count is so high. And the fact that I am even thinking of engaging in these sports means I am well and truly a member of a high-consumption society. God knows that my friends who have to battle traffic in Lagos, guard against being victims of crime, endure a night without electricity or one with combined with the noise of a generator will have far different recreational activities in mind.

But hey… when in Rome… right?