The notion that women are the possession of not only the men they are involved with, but even the men who want to be involved with them, shows its ugly head in many ways. No matter the particular presentation of that foolish idea, however, it almost always ends in violence.

Such seems to be the case in what has ended up in a court case, and reported under the headline 'Old woman stoned' in Thursday's STAR. It was reported that a man was remanded in custody after, allegedly, hitting an elderly woman with a stone, leaving her unconscious and with a cracked skull. In court the complainant said the only grievance between them was that he wanted to be involved with her 13-year-old granddaughter. She told the court that when her granddaughter refused the accused had said he was going to hit her in the face and shoot the grandmother.

If that is indeed the reason for the alleged attack, it is heinous on two counts. For one, it is clear that the intention was carnal abuse and, secondly, no is simply no.

Too many men consider a woman's refusal to get involved with them or even respond to their advances as a 'dis' and take out their wrath on what is supposed to be the object of their affection. This switch from professed attraction to hatred implies that there was no like in the first place, simply the desire to add another possession to a trophy case.

And so, many times we see murder-suicide cases when men have taken the notion of women as possessions to the extreme.

These cases are sad and attitudes are very hard to change, but punishment, where appropriate, is a step in the right direction.