Quite apart from the callous and cruel treatment of
Agnieszka Miller and Wonko's
previous examples of what can only be called disgusting sentencing, this week has some additional examples on offer.
Firstly, there's the case of the
drug-driver who killed in a nurse while joyriding.
This is not just one life - think how many people that nurse might have saved.
Rhonda Negal was off to celebrate her sister's 50th birthday but instead she ended up lying in the gutter. And then on a mortuary slab.
The man who did this will spend five years in jail and then emerge free.
Judge Freeman sentenced the now 25-year-old Totten to serve at least four years and 10 months in prison, taking into account that he fled the crash scene without offering assistance.
"I should say, finally, there is no doubt that the injury, emotional harm, loss or damage caused by the offence was substantial," Judge Freeman said.
"It is clear that the community as a whole suffered a loss with the death of this vibrant and valuable woman in the prime of her life."
Judge Freeman further acknowledged that a plaque recognising the efforts of Ms Negal had been placed in the emergency department of Royal North Shore Hospital, where she worked for almost 30 years.
Despite that Judge Freeman (an appropriate name for a judge given recent events!) still only chose to sentence this killer who has a criminal history of violence and weapons offences to
less than five years jail.
Of course, this is not an isolated case of Australian 'justice'.
Magistrate Peter Mellas evidently thinks that driving at speeds of up to 150km/h in a 70km/h zone and smashing into a 60 year old man causing such injuries that he needs to learn to walk again, is a 'solid citizen'.
Police prosecutor Leading Sen-Constable Angela Coulson called on magistrate Peter Mellas to jail Cassar, but the magistrate let the
Altona Meadows man walk free.
We are continuously bombarded with warnings about speed yet this particular Magistrate - PETER MELLAS - obviously doesn't watch the TV or read the papers or listen to the radio or - presumably - drive with his eyes open.
Speeders who travel at over DOUBLE the speed limit are 'solid citizens'.
Here lies madness.
Then, there is the treatment of
drunk, unlicenced driver Gary Edward Ryan who felt that spinning tyres and showing off was something he might remember in his old age. Hopefully he will because he killed six year old Bangoang Tut as he played in his own front yard. That six year old will never grow up. That six year old will never have his own family. That six year old has had an entire future stolen from him.
Judge Liz Gaynor sentenced this killer to 8 years, but evidently feels that a six year old's life is only worth a year for every year he has lived because Gary Edward Ryan is eligible for parole in SIX years. He'll have spent one year in for every year that Bangoang has lived.
Had he not been killed in his front garden he may well have lived another 74 years.
That Judge Liz, is how long this killer should have been sent to prison.
But wait - there's more!
Another case where you can bash people
without being punished - I refer you to Judge Meryl Sexton's ludicrous decision to reject prosecution arguments that Comensoli (assaulter and beater) should be sent to an adult jail and instead ordered he be detained in a youth justice centre for three years. During which time he can be set free.
The victim of this callous and unprovoked attack which saw him beaten into unconsciousness now suffers nightmares and is afraid to go out at night or use public transport.
"The effects of your attack have been felt not just by him, but by his friends, who are foreign students and his family in India," Judge Sexton said.
But despite this we have another case where the criminal is essentially set free.
People have been killed - sometimes children - others beaten and their lives ruined and you can see from the above the treatment that these violent criminals receive. They are treated as though they are the sons of gods.
It's not as if our sentencing were consistently lax. That would show that these judges and justices were only 'too soft'. But that isn't the case.
Take the case of the
He suffered nightmares, was afraid to go out at night or use public transport and moved house twice.
"The effects of your attack have been felt not just by him, but by his friends, who are foreign students and his family in India," Judge Sexton said.
A serial burglar was in a "drug-induced stupor" when he photographed his penis with mobile phones he stole and sent the images to the owners' contacts, a court has been told.
Shane Anthony Willis, 33, has been jailed for a minimum four-and-a-half years for a string of burglaries in inner Melbourne and regional Victoria between January and April this year.
A minimum of four and a half years for burglary YET by the above standards:
* If he'd beaten one of his victims to unconsciousness, he'd be allowed free.
* If he'd killed one of his victims, he'd go to jail for a couple of years
In Wonko's opinion, we really do need accountability when these people (yes, people because that's all Justices and Judges and Magistrates are) make their decisions.
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