REVIEW: Harrowing story of prejudice and religious blackmail

Abstract

Craddock, Pat (2015). Harrowing story of prejudice and religious blackmail. Pacific Journalism Review, 21(2): 208-210. Review of Murder That Wasn’t. The Case of George Gwaze, by Felicity Goodyear-Smith. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015. 180pp. ISBN 978-1-877578-99-1

This harrowing book is about George Gwaze, an African migrant to New Zealand who was tried twice for the alleged rape and murder of his 10-year-old niece. It is also about prejudice, HIV/AIDS and our legal and medical processes when trauma is being investigated. One Saturday morning in January 2007, Charlene, the 10-year-old niece of George Gwaze was found in her bed gasping for breath, lying in a pool of diarrhoea and was rushed to hospital. Charlene was diagnosed with aggressive acute sepsis believed to be the result of violent assault and suffocation. She was also HIV positive. Next morning Charlene was dead. The police began their inquiries.