18 Anyangwe/Extrajudicial killings of women in Africa contradictions often occur between the two laws, posing a big challenge when seeking justice. In some countries, a valid marriage can be contracted either under the received law (civil marriage) or under customary law (customary marriage). A civil marriage is monogamous; a customary marriage is potentially polygamous. Under either system, marital power is exercised by the husband. In the case of a customary marriage that power is additionally exercised by the wife’s in-laws. Some African couples tend to contract two forms of marriage, one under the civil system, and another under the customary system59 which is seen as situating them culturally and identity-wise. A dual marriage complicates matters. It impacts negatively on the rights of the woman as it makes it difficult to determine which law governs the marriage or aspects of it. Besides, the protection afforded by one type of marriage is likely to be compromised by the other. The existence of a multiple or plural legal system (statutory law, common law, different versions of customary law, and religious law) is a further complicating factor because of the existence of recognised parallel adjudicating structures. For example, in a number of West African communities the ‘family meeting’ or so-called ‘family court’ plays a critical role in the resolution of family disputes. The ‘meeting’ or ‘court’ may decree its own norms to be obeyed with sanctions in the event of transgression. The usual sanctions for transgression include denial of access to economic resources, denial of moral and spiritual support and, in extreme cases, ostracism or death. It follows that owing to their disempowered status women are unlikely to disobey their marital family and run the risk of forfeiting access to essential resources for survival or the risk of ostracism or death.60 Since patriarchal culture socialises men to be dominant and women to be submissive, the extrajudicial killing of a woman may be consequential to other forms of violence such as multiple or gang rape, ‘rape by instrumentality’ or physical assault. Criminal law regards the intentional killing of another as the most serious crime against the person because such deprivation of life violates the sanctity of human life protected by law. The penalty for murder, depending on the circumstances of the deed, may range from a long term of imprisonment to life imprisonment, and even the death sentence in States that still retain the death penalty. However, a person prosecuted for murder can be found guilty of manslaughter (culpable homicide) if he had no intention to kill or if he successfully pleads provocation. Case law shows that the murder of a woman by her intimate partner tends be treated leniently. Sentences are often light and not reflective of the gravity of the crime committed. In the much televised South African case of S v Oscar Pistorius,61 the accused was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend with whom he was living. But he got off with only six years’ imprisonment, and was 59 C Himonga et al (eds) African customary law (2014) 83. WLSA (n 36 above) 39. 61 Unreported. Trial began in March 2014, was concluded in 2015 but the appeal had still not been finally disposed as of July 2017. 60