textfiles/sex/EROTICA/A/africa.txt

Judicial Canings in Africa

Keith Foley liked to take his holidays in out-of-the-way
places. This year he had gone to Africa and was now in Malawi.
As he was walking about the town of Blantyre he noticed a
large crowd thronging in to a field. He asked someone what was
happening and was told that this was the day when the
sentences of corporal punishment recently ordered by the
district court would be carried out. These canings were always
carried out in public in order to increase the humiliation of
the punishments and the deterrent effect.

Out of curiosity he went in. He made his way through the
jostling native crowd and found a vacant place near the wire
where he could see the whole proceedings. He noticed two
people whom he knew standing near him, Mrs Chilemba and her
daughter Omalara. They were wealthy native Malawians from
Lilongwe, the capital, and were staying at the same hotel as
him. Mrs Chilemba was very traditional in her ways but Omalara
was quite westernised. Keith saw that the seventeen year old
girl was wearing a T-shirt and extremely tight jeans which
showed her attractive behind off to perfection. He knew that
Mrs Chilemba was worried that Omalara was too friendly with an
'unsuitable' boy and that they were often arguing. His
sympathies would normally have been with the daughter, but she
had been very rude to him, for no reason, the day before and
he realised that she must be a difficult girl.

There was a group of people in the middle of the field, near a
wooden hurdle. It was easy to see who was going to be caned as
they, both men and women, wore undecorated grey gowns and
their hands were cuffed. He had a good view and had his
binoculars with him. There were about a dozen men to be
punished, from men in their forties to boys of school age.
Most, however, seemed to be about nineteen or twenty. There
were rather fewer women - six or seven. These, too, were of
varying ages, one definitely middle aged, while there was also
a  very frightened looking girl who didn't look more than
fourteen or fifteen. There were also several police and prison
officers - some of whom carried leather straps. Several canes
hung from a stand near the hurdle.

The women were punished before the men - an application of the
doctrine 'ladies first'. A large, Junoesque, woman was led
forward and, using the loudspeaker system, an official read
out her name, her offence - which was theft of jewellery from
a hotel bedroom - and her sentence - six months imprisonment
with twelve strokes of the cane at the beginning of the term
and another twenty at the end. This was the first instalment.
The woman appeared to be about twenty-five and looked defiant
rather than frightened.

After the details had been read out one of the female officers
removed the woman's gown and she stood before the crowd stark
naked except for a tiny G-string. Now Keith saw that she had
an excellent figure; until then this had been hidden by the
shapeless grey gown. She did not seem ashamed that everybody
could see her bare breasts - Keith supposed that African women
had different ideas about nudity.

The officer led her round in front of the hurdle and made her
bend over it. Then she fastened the woman's handcuff's to an
iron ring set in the ground. This ring could be moved nearer
to or further from the hurdle depending on the height of the
offender. The woman's big black bottom was exposed for
punishment. Keith noticed that she kept her legs tightly
together and felt his prick harden giving him an uncomfortable
erection.

A woman police sergeant took off her uniform jacket and
selected a cane from the stand. It was a straight length of
rattan, spirally wrapped with cord at one end to provide a
hand grip. It was about a yard long, gradually tapering from
nearly an inch thick at the handle end to less than half an
inch at its tip. It looked a lot worse than the one Keith
remembered being used to painful effect on his own clothed
bottom at school. The sergeant walked over to a large barrel
and lowered the cane into it.  It came out glistening wet. 
Keith later found out that the barrel contained antiseptic
liquid to prevent the cane from splitting and embedding
splinters in the offenders' bare buttocks.  The sergeant
swished the cane through the air twice to release the surplus
liquid. It hissed wickedly and sounded horribly supple. Keith
saw the woman's bottom flinch and wriggle at the sound.

Then the caning began in earnest. The sergeant was obviously
very experienced in the administration of corporal punishment.
She brought the cane back behind her shoulders and lashed it
down with amazing force. She used her whole body and also a
supple little twist of her wrist to bring that rod slamming
down on to the young woman's unprotected black bottom with the
force of a Grand Prix car hitting the barriers. Keith clearly
heard the noise of that terrific impact, without the benefit
of loudspeakers, but apart from a slight tremor passing
through the woman's body she remained impassive and made no
sound.

The next stroke, equally violent, followed after a pause of
about ten seconds, once again eliciting little reaction from
the stoical African woman. Stroke after stroke landed and
Keith could see, through his binoculars, that her bottom was
covered in weals and two open cuts where the skin had been
broken. But apart from a slight kicking of her legs the
culprit remained apparently impassive. He heard admiring
comments from the African audience - they appreciated courage.

After the eighth stroke, however, it was clear that the pain
was getting through to her. Keith heard a loud metallic
rattling as the woman tried to pull her hands free. The
sergeant must have noticed this as well. She paused a bit
longer before the next stroke and it may have been even harder
than the earlier ones.

This time the woman yelled out in pain at the top of her voice
and kicked her legs frantically. The G-string protected her
modesty, but only just! Some of the crowd clapped, apparently
to applaud the sergeant's skill.

Keith moved his binoculars to look at the group of female
offenders awaiting their own punishments. They now looked
noticeably more apprehensive. The young girl of about fifteen
had started to cry.

Each of the following strokes now drew a wild yell from the
suffering woman and there were longer pauses now between each
stroke as the sergeant waited for the scissoring, kicking legs
to return to rest before delivering each stroke. The twelfth
and final stroke was across the lowest part of the woman's
bottom, where the skin was already broken, and the tip of the
cane lashed right round to imprint itself on her writhing hip.
Then the sergeant threw the used cane to the ground and the
crowd heard the sobbing of the caned thief.

Keith noticed Mrs Chilemba turn and say to her daughter "I
hope you're paying attention, young lady. If your behaviour
doesn't start to improve soon that's what you'll be getting!"
Omalara turned away and did not answer her mother. This was no
idle threat however.

The officer bent down and unfastened the handcuffs from the
metal ring. Then she lifted the caned woman upright - she
could hardly stand. Her hands were still cuffed in front of
her, so she was unable to comfort her blazing bottom. Her gown
was draped over her and then two officers dragged her back to
a van to await her ride back to prison. She had an even worse
caning to expect when she came out - twenty strokes. Keith
wondered if she would look forward to the end of her sentence!

The next culprit was led forward. This was the fifteen year
old girl, now sobbing and obviously pleading for mercy. Her
name and offence were read out. She had 'persistently
disobeyed her parents' and had been sentenced to five strokes
of the cane. Once again Omalara's mother turned to her
daughter, "You see! If you're cheeky to me just one more time
I'll take you to the judge and the whole town will see your
bottom get striped!" This time Omalara stupidly went too far.

"You wouldn't dare!" she said," And if you did they wouldn't
take any notice of you!"

This was too much for her mother. Angrily she grabbed her
daughter and dragged her, struggling, over the wire towards
the centre of the field. Keith was amazed at her strength. An
excited buzz grew from the crowd as they realised what was
happening. Mrs Chilemba and her daughter disappeared into a
tent in the middle of the field.

Meanwhile the canings continued uninterruptedly. The ring had
to be moved much closer to the hurdle for the shorter
teenager, but this was soon done and she was bent over in
turn. Keith would have left at this point, he had seen enough,
but he couldn't resist waiting to see what would happen to
Omalara.

The young schoolgirl was not as brave - or as used to the
cane? - as the jewel thief and she yelled loudly at each of
her five strokes, which were inflicted by the same sergeant,
trying desperately to escape. When her handcuffs were released
and she was pulled upright she continued to scream
hysterically. As she was taken in to the van she was sick over
one of the officers. Keith saw another officer follow her in,
with a strap.

Omalara and her mother remained inside the tent while the four
remaining women were caned. They had all been convicted of the
same offence - prostitution - and each received eighteen
strokes, which seemed to be the standard punishment. These
canings were carried out by two different women officers.
Evidently it was felt that each one could only deal with a
maximum of two offenders.

The women took their canings well on the whole, but only the
oldest of them managed to last without yelling out. The crowd
applauded her courage. Keith noticed, through his binoculars,
that the bottoms of all of them except for the last to be
caned bore scar marks obviously left by earlier canings.  This
last  prostitute didn't seem to Keith to be much older than
Omalara, perhaps nineteen or twenty at the most. She had much
lighter skin than the others and was the only one of the four
whom Keith thought in the least attractive. After the third
stroke she started to struggle frantically and to yell
uncontrollably. By the end her bottom was covered in blood and
she was in at least as bad a state as the schoolgirl had been.

As she was dragged, squirming and shrieking, to the van
Omalara finally made a reappearance. Keith gasped at the
sight. She had been handcuffed and her jeans removed,
revealing a pair of white briefs which clung to the curves of
her full, round buttocks. She was barefoot. She still held her
pretty head high and maintained a defiant expression, but it
was difficult for her to look dignified with her hands cuffed
in front of her and her panties on public show.

The official made the announcement. Omalara Chilemba was to be
caned for persistent disobedience and insolence to her mother.
She would receive twelve strokes of the cane. Keith was
surprised at the severity of the sentence. He had thought
that, if she was punished at all, she would get five strokes
like the other girl, or perhaps a few more as she was older.
He later found out that it had been her mother who had
insisted on this sentence - the maximum. The announcement
continued. As all three women sergeants had already carried
out two canings Omalara would be caned by one of the men.

Omalara was bent down over the hurdle and chained to the ring.
Her mother stood nearby among a group of police, holding her
daughter's jeans and high heeled shoes. One of the men
sergeants removed his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves.
He walked forward and, inserting his fingers into the
waistband, pulled the teenager's panties down over her thighs.
He seemed to take his time about this and Keith thought he saw
him whisper something to the bending girl.

The sergeant spat on his right palm and rubbed his hands
together. Then he hoisted a cane similar to that which the 
other women had felt and immersed it in the antiseptic
solution. At least Omalara was getting the women's cane rather
than one of the longer men's canes that Keith could see on the
stand.

Studying Omalara's beautifully rounded bottom through his
binoculars Keith noted with admiration that she was almost
completely still, holding her legs close together to protect
her modesty. Of course she did not even have the meagre
benefit of the G-string that the other victims had had, but
nearly all the others that day had been trembling even before
their punishments had started. The sergeant drew the cane back
and lashed it down, using his skill to put all his weight
behind it, across the seventeen year old's naked and exposed
rump.

Experienced and practiced in their art as the women sergeants
had been that first stroke was sufficient to show that the man
had a much stronger arm and was prepared to make full use of
it. The noise as the supple cane thwacked across Omalara's
tender bottom-flesh echoed like a gunshot across the field.
Omalara's body shuddered and she kicked her legs but she did
not yell out. Keith saw an ugly weal spread across her dusky
cheeks. The skin already looked close to breaking. Omalara
wriggled for a few moments as the full pain hit her. Then she
once again pressed her thighs together, awaiting the next
stroke.

After about half a minute the sergeant raised his arm and
again the cane hissed through the air. It fell, striking hard
across the teenage buttocks, about an inch below the mark left
by the first stroke. Omalara's reaction was the same as to the
previous stroke. Keith admired the courage of the proud girl,
but he didn't think she would be able to hold out for long.

He could see that the whole area between the first two strokes
was already swollen. It was to this area that, with perfect
aim, the sergeant directed the third and fourth strokes at
intervals of about twenty seconds. Omalara took the third
stroke in silence, although her head shot up sharply and Keith
heard the tell-tale rattle of the chains as she tried
instinctively to free her hands. But after the fourth she
squealed in anguish and lurched forward over the hurdle, her
legs wildly scissoring. Keith could see that blood had now
been drawn. The sergeant waited patiently until Omalara's
squirmings abated.

The hapless girl desperately contracted her buttocks in
anticipation of the next angry stroke. It fell on a previously
uncaned area below the existing weals. Omalara's resistance
was now at an end and she howled at that stroke and at each
succeeding one. She no longer worried about how she was
exposing her most private parts as she wriggled and writhed in
agony. The sergeant ignored all this impassively and just
continued to methodically cane her bottom with full force.

After the ninth stroke landed Omalara slumped soundlessly over
the hurdle.  She had evidently fainted because of the pain. 
The sergeant grinned and stood back, signalling to an officer
who walked to the van and obtained a large bottle of water,
which she then poured over Omalara's head until she regained
consciousness.  Then another man, evidently a doctor, came
over.  He took hold of Omalara's curly black hair and roughly
lifted her head so that he could examine her eyes.  He held a
bottle containing some smelling salts under her nose until she
jerked away. Then he looked at the cuts and weals on her
battered buttocks, dabbing the worst of the blood away with
some gauze.  He said something to Omalara and then turned to
the sergeant to indicate that the punishment should continue. 
Keith was surprised that Mrs Chilemba continued to stand
nearby completely impassively.  Obviously she didn't think
that her daughter had suffered enough yet.

The sergeant did not mitigate the force of the last three
strokes at all, although he directed them to an area at the
lowest part of the girl's buttocks and the tops of her thighs
which had escaped the worst of the earlier strokes.  Omalara
yelled wildly and struggled desperately, but vainly, to
escape, but she did not lose consciousness again.

After the twelfth stroke had lashed home the sergeant stood
back and Keith was able to see the effect of his handiwork.
The girl had been caned in an area some five inches deep. The
open cuts and quarter-inch weals raised on her flesh by the
caning covered her bottom from top to thighs. Keith could not
see any flesh on her bottom free from bruising. The sergeant
threw down the cane and pulled Omalara's panties back up over
her swollen bottom. He was not particularly gentle about this
and Keith saw Omalara wince sharply.

Then the teenager was released and dragged onto the van with
the other caned women. Keith walked away at this point. He had
seen enough and did not want to see the men caned in their
turn.

Next day at the hotel Keith saw Mrs Chilemba at breakfast,
although Omalara wasn't there. He didn't know what he should
say to her, he knew that she had seen him at the canings and
must realise that he had seen her daughter's punishment.
However his doubts were cut short when she approached him and
told him not to be embarrassed. She said that Omalara had
needed a good caning like that for some time and that it would
do her nothing but good. She explained that Omalara had been
kept in the cells at the Police Station overnight and that she
was going to pick her up after breakfast. She didn't seem to
be in a particular hurry.

Keith did not see Omalara again until nearly a week later, the
day before he was to leave Blantyre. For the first time she
was down again for breakfast with her mother. She was wearing
a loose fitting traditional dress and had abandoned her jeans.
Despite the interval since her punishment Keith saw that she
did not sit down at the table with her mother but stayed by
the buffet, eating standing up. Those guests who did not know
what had happened cast surprised looks at her.  

One of the waitresses, carrying a breakfast tray, walked to
close to Omalara and brushed against her.  Her arm just made
the merest contact with the teenager's bottom but it was
enough to cause her to flinch instinctively, squeal loudly and
drop the plate she was holding.  Many of the guests giggled or
laughed and Omalara walked slowly and stiffly out of the room,
not looking anyone in the face and holding one hand to the
back of her dress.

Keith would have assumed it was just an accident but Mrs
Chilemba, who herself looked rather amused told him that she
was sure it was deliberate.  She explained that for the last
week Omalara had been in her room lying on her bed with her
face downwards to prevent her sore buttocks from touching
against the bed or any other material until the wounds started
to heal.  All the hotel staff were aware of this as they had
to bring her food.  Omalara had been rather too given to
ordering them about when they'd first arrived and the staff
were all happy and amused at the nature of her painful
comeuppance.  Mrs Chilemba was not too annoyed that the young
waitress had taken her opportunity to get her own back.
However she told Keith that she would have a quiet word with
her and warn the girl that if it happened again she would
report her and that it might be her own bottom that was sore!

Keith left the hotel to continue his holiday convinced that
Omalara had learned a useful lesson.