A Palmerston North judge banned photographs of the accused and the accused is not seeking bail. The reason for both actions is the "lynch mob mentality" alive and well in the community meaning the accused and his family would not be safe if either of these things happened. Threats have been made against the accused's brother. The accused is allegedly responsible for the death of a 3 year-old girl.
Some children live in a culture of neglect and violence. It occurs to me that there can be more than one potential killer within a group of people that have contact with a child. The people brimming with retribution are quite probably just as bad as the accused. And while they are posturing and slagging off and brewing, they are no doubt doing it around children. It's a dismal picture. Clueless, valueless people in charge of young minds.
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5 comments:
nch mob' mentality and the photographs are two fundamentally different issues and should not be conflated merely for the purpose of efficiency.
It is a fundamental tenet of our justice system that it is OPEN, so that justice can be done and can be seen to be done. That protects the alleged offender and it protects society. These days suppression orders are handed out completely willy nilly to sports people, 'famous' celebrities etc etc. This should stop.
The lynch mob issue should be resolved by pulling some cops off chasing tickets (tax gathering), and setting them to investigate those making threats, and coming down hard on them. There is only one way we can have confidence in the law, and that is by enforcing it, and doing that in open court and in a transparent manner. If we stop doing that we make another step down the slippery slope of mob rule.
If it was your three year old daughter who had been killed, wouldn't you want retribution? I sure would, especially as the victim was a helpless child.
Anon, of course, but the justice system should dole that out, not an angry mob.
Ruthless child killers deserve nothing less than life (and that means life) sentences, but only following due process. (And I could be convinced that there is place for a death penalty in some horrific cases).
The trouble is though, that our justice system is softy soft, and no child killer ever gets true life, just a mere 18 years or so, if the Judge happens to be less liberal. The victim here is dead at the tender age of three, the person responsible may get some years in jail, with three square meals a day and underfloor heating, plus no bills to pay. Is that really justice? Anon.
As an individual not unfimilar with the Palmerston North Courthouse, i have witnessed some appalling behaviour on the steps of the courthouse from families of an agrieved family towards the family of a charged person. (No particular case)
The abuse and intimidation delivered by emotionally and physically unstable people can be quite frightening and intimidating.
Of course this behaviour makes for good TV news stories so court staff tend to stand aside and let the moment take its course.
Dirk
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