How can a rapist be let off jail?

I REFER to Hendrick Mphande’s report in The Herald of July 28, “‘Decent’ child rapist escapes prison term”. Prosecutor Thabo Sali and magistrate Johan Potgieter both deemed a teenage child rapist “decent” – decent enough to be given a five-year correctional supervision sentence despite the Port Elizabeth Regional Court finding him guilty of raping a five-year-old, a most serious offence which usually warrants a prison term.

I hold my head in my hands, shame on you both for delivering this message to our already twisted society.

I ask: is any rapist decent?

Kathy Rath, rape survivor, Walmer, Port Elizabeth