Letter - Since the discovery of the charred corpse believed to be that of Siam Lee and the subsequent arrest of a suspect in her murder, many of us following this saga have offered opinions in one form or another.
Whatever vantage point we assume, we must not detract from the fact that a heinous, cruel and dastardly act of cold-blooded murder was committed.
Whoever the victim is, whatever life the victim leads and whatever the reasons may be that lead to a killing, any premeditated, cold-blooded murder is murder.
Siam Lee’s lifestyle has come under the microscope as the media hype intensifies about the sleazy underworld that exists in our midst.
The moralists and holier-than-thou in society will obviously frown on the activities that lead people astray into the nether world of drugs and prostitution - as all of us should.
But in saying that, we need to be circumspect as to how we approach situations that demand rectification rather than being openly censorious without due consideration as to why people enter this dark world.
Many, out of economic desperation, are lured into this world.
Others, by influence and coercion, until there is a point of almost no return.
And once hooked, they are subjected to a myriad of activities that go against societal norms.
Society is too quick to take the high road and judge those it perceives to be in the lower quadrant of life.
We point fingers, criticise, demean and relegate those who by circumstance have drawn the worst straw in life.
We must always adopt the humanitarian approach first - because the inadequacies of our fellow brethren are symptomatic of deeper social ills, often ignored as we do not want to get involved or we pass the responsibility on to others.
Prostitutes and drug addicts are human beings who have gone astray, and the kingpins who manipulate these vulnerable people are the real criminals.
Human frailty knows no bounds - its penchant to get the better of anyone in their lowest and weakest moments is akin to the proverbial vulture - at the ready and in the instant.
Like all of us, they have a story to tell. It may not be a happy tale, or a pleasant one, or even a story filled with the joys that we all seek, but their lot in life should not be a measure against which we determine their humanity or value.
Like people who beg for their daily bread, life probably dealt them a raw deal and, for whatever it is worth, our judgment of them is more reflective of our humanity than their hapless lot in life.
Whatever led Siam Lee into her alleged world of darkness must not be the focus of how we view her death.
She was a human being plucked from the world by the degenerative criminality that is all too pervasive today.
Brothels, drug dens and the houses of “sin” may well be the bane of a moral society, but they lend credence to the fact that you and I are equally responsible to ensure that we play our role in actively helping people who succumb to the bedevilment that plagues us all.
“Alas,” Athol Fugard might say, “people are living there!”
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