Suicide worse than gay killings?
November 17th 2008 09:39
Another interesting discovery in relation to Victim on Trial (Sorry to keep banging on about this).
Justice Philip Cummins, the prominent judge presiding over the Bernard Rolfe Suicide case is the same judge who gave suspended sentences to John Whiteside and Kristian Dieber (later appealed and over-turned see story) in 2000.
Whiteside and Dieber bashed and killed 45 year-old Keith Hibbins, an innocent gay man they wrongly believed guilty of raping a drunken woman…
Justice Cummins said the case was one in which mercy should be shown…
“Yours was the conduct of two young men of good character not looking for trouble, not looking for a fight, not bent on violence.
“Two men who truly and reasonably believed a woman had been raped and who without reflection or premeditation sought to ensure the perpetrators did not escape before the summoned police arrived.
“Who then, in a rush of emotion, believing you had found the perpetrators,
severely but briefly assaulted the victim."Read full story
Now back to Bernard Rolfe. In response to his defence lawyer’s push for a suspended sentence for his client ...
Justice Cummins said the case raised moral questions of considerable complexity.
He said the court must always look at the larger picture and issues of general deterrence.
“You start with a clear and understandable case like this one, it doesn't take long before you get into other greyer areas," Justice Cummins said.
“Are there not always real issues . . . of margins being moved, of less clear cases, and should not the court be conscious of the dangers of that marginalisation?
“What happens to a very elderly person who says to themselves, 'I am just a burden . . . I have no future'. What does the law do about them?
“That is why moral entities in the community say don't start on a slippery slope."
Rolfe was released on bail to appear in court for sentence this month.
(Katie Bice – Herald Sun Read full story)
Hmmmm … what kind of message is Justice Cummins trying to send?
To show such leniency in a case involving a bashing brutal enough to cause death, then come down with the full force of the law on an old man who tried to commit suicide with his wife - which can be attributed to a failure of the system to start with!
Something is so very, very wrong with our world.
Justice Philip Cummins, the prominent judge presiding over the Bernard Rolfe Suicide case is the same judge who gave suspended sentences to John Whiteside and Kristian Dieber (later appealed and over-turned see story) in 2000.
Whiteside and Dieber bashed and killed 45 year-old Keith Hibbins, an innocent gay man they wrongly believed guilty of raping a drunken woman…
Justice Cummins said the case was one in which mercy should be shown…
“Yours was the conduct of two young men of good character not looking for trouble, not looking for a fight, not bent on violence.
“Two men who truly and reasonably believed a woman had been raped and who without reflection or premeditation sought to ensure the perpetrators did not escape before the summoned police arrived.
“Who then, in a rush of emotion, believing you had found the perpetrators,
severely but briefly assaulted the victim."Read full story
Now back to Bernard Rolfe. In response to his defence lawyer’s push for a suspended sentence for his client ...
Justice Cummins said the case raised moral questions of considerable complexity.
He said the court must always look at the larger picture and issues of general deterrence.
“You start with a clear and understandable case like this one, it doesn't take long before you get into other greyer areas," Justice Cummins said.
“Are there not always real issues . . . of margins being moved, of less clear cases, and should not the court be conscious of the dangers of that marginalisation?
“What happens to a very elderly person who says to themselves, 'I am just a burden . . . I have no future'. What does the law do about them?
“That is why moral entities in the community say don't start on a slippery slope."
Rolfe was released on bail to appear in court for sentence this month.
(Katie Bice – Herald Sun Read full story)
Hmmmm … what kind of message is Justice Cummins trying to send?
To show such leniency in a case involving a bashing brutal enough to cause death, then come down with the full force of the law on an old man who tried to commit suicide with his wife - which can be attributed to a failure of the system to start with!
Something is so very, very wrong with our world.
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