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All MOO ...
Sophie's case was extremely different to this one though (a NZer, she died at the hands of her ex-boyfriend in her NZ home). It annoys me that the media has asked another family to comment on this tragedy ... not only does it dredge everything up again for Sophie's family who are already suffering, but it's really not relevant in the scheme of what's happening now. The focus needs to be on getting Grace back home to her loved ones and the perpetrator locked up for good.
I think people are of the opinion that awful things don't occur in New Zealand because it's such a green, clean country. Unfortunately the reality is quite different ... it's like anywhere else in the world really, and people need to be aware of that. Just today one of the papers featured an article about all the tourists who've ended up dead after traveling through NZ alone ... the earliest dating back to the late '60s.
It's an absolute tragedy that someone so seemingly lovely, and widely loved, should lose their life while on their big adventure before they settle down into their chosen career. She was just starting out for goodness sake! I feel so, so, so sad for Grace but it's nobody's fault this happened apart from the perpetrator - the blame should lay entirely with him and everything should be about getting a proper result in his punishment and getting Grace back home - there's no point in rehashing old cases or asking other victims for their viewpoints at this time.
I think people are especially outraged that Grace managed to travel through South America, a well-known danger spot, with no issue yet she met her demise in safe New Zealand.
Sentences do seem to be rather light in NZ. Peru is dangerous, but so are New Zealand and Australia. In fact, some really horrific murders have been carried out against tourists in Australia.
The other cases help to give perspective to the culture and politics of gender balance in society, and how this might play out in a trial and sentencing in relation to the murder of Grace.