Thoughts on Murder: Other people can blog about the sadness and outrage generated by the murder of 20-year-old Birna Brjansdottir in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. For me, the remarkable point is the difference between living in a first world country like that, where the government is held accountable to its citizens, versus living in South Africa with our daily horror shows.

The population of Iceland may be small but it would be like adding George, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna together, a comparison i make because the latter is my home area.

Birna Brjansdottir’s murder was only the second in Iceland in 3 years. Before her body was recovered, an official remarked that, “It’s very unique for a young woman to disappear in the middle of Reykjavik. It’s very unusual. People do not just disappear here.”

At one stage, 750 people were searching for her. Eventually, a helicopter of cops was sent to fetch two foreign suspects who had departed for Greenland on a ship.

Here on the Garden Route of South Africa, murder is so regular that it’s rarely noticed by the general population unless community members protest themselves into the local newspaper. Our country has a long way to go to becoming civilised. It’s a pity that the tragic murder of a beautiful woman far away had to make that point to me, today 🙁