"Motsoeneng-Bill emphasised the harshness of the word “stabane” and said Manana was also a victim"

It's quite interesting to realise that many in our legal profession are not familiar with the concept of 'words vs sticks & stones' - something I was made familiar with in my first year at primary school. 

 "He said all parties were intoxicated and the grievous bodily harm caused was not as bad as it could have been."

Ah, so let's not send him to prison because when he punched and kicked three WOMEN, he didn't lay into them as hard as he could've and didn't actually cripple any of them.

By that logic, let's not send any armed robbers to jail who didn't actually shoot anyone, since their crime could've been much worse. Also, let's not send any kiddie fondlers to jail either, since they didn't ACTUALLY rape anyone, so their crime also could've been worse.