Well, Sembene could be from an ethnic or religious group that was the enemy of the people Sir Malcolm did rape and kill... "Divide and Conquer" was a huge part of the British and French colonial endeavour.

I did like that Malcolm wasn't a terrible father to his daughter and pseudo-daughter, but awful to Peter in various ways, and that plus the gendered expectations wrecked everybody's lives. (I still maintain that it would have been much better if Vanessa had skipped the fiance and slept with Mina.)