(1) It’s all down to the cunning evil racist manipulator HoWARd, who used his mincing minion Jonesy to inflame the ignorant, white bogan surfie meathead masses into a jingoistic frenzy against some basically harmless colourful ethnic oppressed yoofs.
(2) It’s all the fault of those lily-livered, lame-brained patronising lefties with their ill-conceived multiculturalism nonsense, bluffing the fundamentally good, honest NSW cops (well, Tim Priest’s mates anyway) into supine politically-correct inactivity under threat of retribution by the dreaded anti-vilification Inquisitors, thus allowing the Muzzie youth gangs to run rampant through the suburbs in a continuous orgy of rape, pillage, vandalism and intimidation, fuelled by a bizarre mix of gangsta rap and the Word of Osama/Hilaly. The surfies may have over-reacted, but their cause is a just one, the preservation of true Aussie values, and vigilante justice is always the result when the appointed forces of law’n’order consistently fail to protect the community from Alien Forces.
Which story do you prefer? Buggered if I know. The only things I know about Cronulla are what I read in Kathy Lette’s Puberty Blues twenty five years ago. And all I know for sure about south-western Sydney, after getting lost 3 or 4 years ago while trying to navigate from the Olympic Stadium to the F5 freeway, is that it has an awful lot of kebab shops and halal butchers and chappies with black beards and sheilas in veils.
But the best thing of all is that I don’t actually give a stuff. I live 4000 kilometres away, and what’s more I’ve had a Brilliant Idea. Until now it’s been looking like a pretty drack summer for us couch potatoes. It’s non-ratings silly season on the telly and all the reality TV shows are in recess. With Little Leighton in proud new dad mode, Seven’s Summer of Tennis is shaping as a major yawn. Moreover, I can’t seem to get excited about a cricket test series against South Africa. No Alan Donald or Jonty Rhodes, not even the spicy possibility of a bit of surreptitious Hansie Cronje match-fixing. Mind you, the Aussie batting collapse yesterday afternoon looked suspiciously spineless.
But none of it involves blood or robust body contact. For depressed Wallaby fans, our recent experiences of body contact sport have all been on the vicarious receiving end. It’s high time we found a sport where our chosen Gladiators could dish out a bit of good clean biff for a change. I’m on annual leave for the next five weeks and I need to be entertained.
What we really need is for Kerry Packer to embrace an exciting new TV concept: World Series Urban Violence. Sure it’ll cost quite a few million to establish enough O.B camera positions at Cronulla, Maroubra and Brighton-Le-Sands. But World Series cricket cost a pretty penny too, and Kerry didn’t let that stop him. Or maybe Young James might take up the challenge, to restore his reputation after the OneTel debacle and prove to his dad that he has the family Midas Touch after all.
Capturing the mobile random suburban bashings and trashings by the Muzzie gangs will pose some significant logistic challenges. But I’m sure they shoud be able to adapt the technology used for the Bathurst 1000. James needs to employ Hazem El Masri as a highly paid consultant to stamp the streets of Lakemba and sign up a dozen or so Leb gang members on lucrative sponsorship deals obliging them to have infra-red car-cams fitted to their hotted-up Subarus, with satellite uplinks to capture the live action as they roam through the suburbs looking for defenceless Infidels to bash and rape.
Some of the action might be a bit raw for family viewing times, especially the occasional gang rape behind Lakemba Station, so they’ll obviously need to emulate Big Bogan Uncut and screen a late night unexpurgated version. But that can only increase the commercial potential. Perfect viewing for the “Y” Generation when they get home after a hard night of E-fuelled clubbing and want something a bit harder-edged than Rage on the ABC to keep them entertained until the rohypnol kicks in.
Coming soon to your loungeroom! Just watch tonight’s Nine News. And remember, you read it here first. I’m not entirely sure how you’d actually score World Series Urban Violence or work out who won, or even decide whether a game had actually finished or not. I’d be the first to admit the concept needs a bit more development. I’m sure Kerry would welcome your suggestions, so feel free to post them here.
Ken,
I’d vote for a mix of racism, surfie territoriality and too much grog as major causes. And maybe toss in a few others as I either think them up or read about them in the MSM. Living in Melbourne, I don’t give much of a toss either, especially after Wise King Otto’s reminder in yesterday’s press that we should all concentrate on being cheerful about living where we do.
Now, as to WSUV: how about something like “The Apprentice”; two gangs of contestants compete for the chance to become a “made-man”, with the judging done by a capo di tutti capos or perhaps the head of one of the Columbian drug cartels? Each week the gangs are presented with a suitable criminal challenge, whichever gang does worst gets invited to a meeting with the boss and asked to nominate who should sleep with the fishes.
“I’d vote for a mix of racism, surfie territoriality and too much grog as major causes.”
What a surprise. Lebanese gangs are completely blameless I presume.
“But the best thing of all is that I don’t actually give a stuff.”
Sure, Ken.
Fortunately for the benefit of the great unwashed in this country, some of us, unlike Ken and Gummo, do give a fuck.
Yobbo,
Why don’t you just go back to trying to make martyrs out of drunken louts carrying tree-branches and iron bars for “protection” in the West Sydney suburbs?
Incidentally, I reckon the prison sentence was probably a bit over the top for what is usually a fining offence, but slagging the police for arresting the guy – ha!
Lebanese gangs blameless? Not for things lebanese gangs do. But for what rednecks who wrap themselves in the flag and go the biff on anybody who they don’t like the look of – whole new ball game.
No surprises there either, I guess.
What’s needed here is a common cause around which southern beaches surfie culture and Tupac lovin’ bling hangin’ drug dealin’ Leb boys can unite! I propose that the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade travel a route from Lakemba to Cronulla next March and restore a sense of shared Australian purpose!
Something’s that’s worked very well over here in France during the recent Urban Violence Champion’s Trophy is burning stuff. Cars worked particularly well, but rubbish bins are not to be forgotten. TV will appreciate it, too – the lighting you get for a day-night UV match is just not adequate without a few burning Corollas.
Geoff
I think you may be onto something here. A suitable common enemy/scapegoat is exactly what is needed, and a gala poofta bash might just do the trick (with police protection to ensure no-one actually gets hurt). Better still, Jewish poofs. If only Rene Rivkin hadn’t popped himself, they could have sentenced him to weekend detention at Cronulla Beach.
It reminds me of when I was a beach inspector at Collaroy during uni vacations (he muses, slipping seamlessly into nostalgic mode). A not entirely dissimilar event actually succeeded in healing a longstanding rift between the local clubbies and boardriders. The beach’s public toilets had been appropriated as a gay “beat”. The local Boyz all became increasingly agitated, not even being able to have a quiet shit without Jonesy or some other closet type waving his willy and making indecent propositions from an adjoining cubicle.
Eventually, a small group of the local boardriders, led by a young giant named Temple (he was better than two metres tall and almost as wide), took matters into their own hands. Fuelled up on bourbon and coke one night, they went down and smashed the toilet block to smithereens. Every basin and cistern was ripped from the walls and pounded into tiny pieces, and the bowls were so thoroughly smashed that not a single shard of ceramic protruded above the tiled floor.
The local council closed the toilet block for the rest of the summer. Of course, there was a slight consequential problem in that there was nowhere for any of them to go to the toilet. But the clubbies were so pleased at the poofs being effectively vanquished from their turf that they made the boardriders honorary members and let them use the toilets in the clubhouse.
Just so no-one misinterprets, I’m not suggesting the above story is even remotely funny or admirable. But it does reveal a certain aggro, macho, territorial mindset which I suspect may well ironically be a quality the surfie meatheads of Cronulla and the Leb gang members of Lakemba hold in common. That’s the point Geoff was making, and it’s a valid one.
Ah…..Temple. Inevitably,I think I know him ;)
“I’m not suggesting the above story is even remotely funny or admirable”
Well, its certainly not admirable (though far better dunnies get done over than people. And I must admit to wishing gays would choose somewhere else as beats – it’s bloody annoying when all you want is a crap, and also annoying for those who don’t wish their younger offspring to see the seamier side of life quite yet).
But the story is quite funny – that mental image of enraged drunken surfies smashing away at toilet bowls.
They tend not to be your average “gay” bloke, DD.
Collaroy – then and now – is not exactly Poof Central. Beats are generally more about covert, non-gay identifying blokes who are – ironically – more likely to be members of the local SLSC than riding on a Mardi Gras float.
Ken,
Scoring would be dead easy. The winner to be determined by the number of Unaustralian Acts committted as determined by the pay tv public pushing the red button on their remotes. Each game to start at around midnight Friday & finish at midnight Sunday. Season starts 1 Nov & concludes 28 Feb. 3 teams; surfies, lebos & cops. All draws & disputes to be referred to a panel made up of Kochy, Mel, Tim Blair & the recently retired Margot Kingston. The Parrot could signal ‘play on’ by blowing something atop the toilet block at Cronulla Beach
“Why don’t you just go back to trying to make martyrs out of drunken louts carrying tree-branches and iron bars for “protection” in the West Sydney suburbs?”
You’re right Gummo. Those criminals should have just done the right thing and wait for the assistance of police in the event that they were attacked by carloads of thugs.
Yobs
do carry on defending your friends.
fact of the matter is a bunch of riff raff and their lebanese equivalents weren’t able to behave themselves and share a beach properly and now as a result of it, other more civilised places are also facing lockdown and fears of gang war. a pox on both their houses.
here’s what should happen
1) round up the thugs from both sides
2) send the Cronulla thugs, under police guard, to clean up the litter around Lakemba
3) send the Lebanese thugs to clean up around Cronulla
4) get Jonesy to clean up all the public toilets in the entire Southern suburbs
Jason: Let’s face the facts: You’ve never been in a real fight in your life and you are under the mistaken impression that a bunch of Lebanese gangsters would go easy on you if they found you alone and undefended.
You’re dead wrong and if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time you’d probably be in intensive care right now. The difference is that if you run into a bunch of the Bra boys they wouldn’t do a thing to you. No matter how stupid they may be they are able to tell the difference between Chinese and Lebanese.
So whatever you and Gummo might have to say on the subject is basically meaningless. Neither of you have ever been in a situation in your entire life where the concept of self-defence was meaningful.
The shorter Yobbo: No one except drunken yobs who are too silly to avoid constantly getting into fights can have a meaningful opinion on this.
Except I actually bloody live here and you’re all the way in bloody Perth. I’m more likely to run into any Lebanese than you.
Businesses in the eastern suburbs are suffering, innocent people are getting their daily lives disrupted now, all because of some misbehaving louts and preening macho s*itheads with their endless cycles of retaliations.
And how do you know I’ve never been in a real fight? I used to get into (and start)a few through junior high though it’s true I’ve been sensible enough to mellow down and avoid them since.
“Except I actually bloody live here and you’re all the way in bloody Perth. I’m more likely to run into any Lebanese than you.”
I really doubt it. How often do you venture into the prole suburbs?
“And how do you know I’ve never been in a real fight?”
Because I’ve seen you. If you’d ever been in a real fight you’d be dead.
“I used to get into (and start)a few through junior high”
If you think that counts you’re even further disconnected from reality than I previously thought.
The headmaster doesn’t come break it up when a carful of guys start laying into you and kicking you in the head when you’re down. That’s why you need a tree branch.
For someone who has frequently accused me of being a conservative pretending to be a Libertarian, I find it pretty rich that you would deny anyone people in Sydney the most basic right to self-defence at the most dangerous time to be a Sydney resident in its history.
The guy was carrying a fucking stick for chrissakes! He hurt nobody. He was nowhere near Cronulla. He was imprisoned for 4 months on the whim of a judge, without the courtesy of a jury or even time to prepare a defense for his case.
And you who call yourself a libertarian refuses to defend him because, well, I really have no idea.
The only reason I can think of that nobody is standing to defend this guy is pure and simple racism. If it wasn’t for the actions of other white people last weekend, he wouldn’t be in jail and you wouldn’t be saying he deserves to be there.
Racism.
You should be ashamed of yourself, there’s really no other way to put it.
Yeah, Jason, you’re a virgin who can’t drive!
Oops. Sorry, wrong movie.
Yeah, Jason, you’re a racist who can’t fight!
Honestly, when did tree branches become the hand-weapon of choice? Very unwieldy – the leaves play havoc with the stability of the “weapon”, and koalas keep stalking you.
Oh, yeah, I can see it now.
The First Rule Of Tree Club: never talk about tree club. Second Rule Of Tree Club: NEVER talk about tree club.
I’m glad you think it is funny that a man has been imprisoned for 4 months for nothing.
I’m sure the guy and his family are having a good old belly laugh about it right now.
“A police spokesman said that the five men were taken to St George police station for questioning.
About half an hour after that group had been taken away, the Herald observed police talking to at least four young men of Middle Eastern appearance in West Botany Street.
The police officers had confiscated two baseball bats but did not arrest any of the men.”
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/vehicles-fitted-out-for-a-day-of-mayhem/2005/12/18/1134840742480.html
4 months for a tree branch, let off with a harsh talking to for a baseball bat.
Proceed with the justifications now please.
Gee Yobbo, I had no idea you were a seasoned streetfighter and veteran of many a murderous brawl. All this time I thought you were just a rather unworldly young computer programmer from suburban Perth.
Still, I guess you must have picked up a few moves while running with the SQL Server Boys and the Unix Gang.
Careful, Nabs – I think Yobbo’s packing a twig.
Quick! Get the matches!
Yes, by all means continue to ignore the topic at hand. Obviously the point that one man got 4 months for carrying a weapon and 4 others didn’t even get placed under arrest is not worth your attention.
No, it’s not – couldn’t give a fark less, to be honest. Get over it. And take that shrubbery with you.
“by all means continue to ignore the topic at hand”
You mean Ken’s post about World Series Urban Violence? So which team are you trying out for Yobbo? The Database Destroyers? The Mainframe Maulers? Server Storm? Tribe Apache?
C’mon. No need to hide your light under a bushel. Get out there and put some stick about.
“I’m glad you think it is funny that a man has been imprisoned for 4 months for nothing.”
Too true, Yobbo. On the other hand, it’s a lot funnier than having to do 4 years at Guantanamo.
The guy with a branch won’t be able to get over it for another four months, Fyodor. And possibly not for the rest of his life since he’s now got a criminal conviction and a custodial sentence counting against him.
You’re barking up the wrong tree, Rob. You’ll be whining about root causes next.
As funny as some of the replies have been, Yobbo still wins, because none of you have even come close to addressing his question, other than “I couldn’t care” that a man is doing four months in jail because he was carrying a branch around. Ok, heightened security environment, maybe even a libertarian could let this one slide, presuming this rule is consistently applied.
Except that it hasn’t been.
Simple question:
1) Why weren’t the baseball bat wielders arrested and jailed?
Perhaps the police were under pressure and surrounded at the time. Perhaps they were under orders not to ‘provoke’ the men. Perhaps a drunk carrying a tree is an easy target and even easier to make into a scapegoat.
Where have all the anti-terror law libertarians gone? Iemma is just throwing rule after rule after rule at the problem, hoping it’ll go away.
Meanwhile: Four months in jail, loss of job, future employment problems, embittered citizen who now hates the cops and middle eastern gangs even more. Prime recruiting material for Stormfront nutjobs. But you don’t care. Congratulations.
Well said, Twigs. Bang on the money.
Of course what no one seems to know is any detail at all about the circumstances surrounding the arrest, what the offenders prior convictions were if any, or anything really besides the “four months for carrying stick” line.
I’ll grant that its seems harsh under most circumstances but it would be good to actually know a bit more about the story before jumping to extreme conclusions.
However, we can be thankful thought the Libs aren’t in power in NSW
“Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said the man should have been sent to prison for years.”
“A SYDNEY magistrate has thrown the book at a 21-year-old man who was at Sunday’s riots in Cronulla, jailing him within hours of his arrest for carrying a tree branch as a weapon in the western suburb of Penrith.
The swift justice happened because the man was charged with carrying an offensive weapon in a public place – a summary offence that is dealt with immediately, usually resulting in a fine.
But in a rare case of imposing a prison term for such an offence, Penrith magistrate Ian McRae said “drastic punishment” was required, and sentenced the man to four months.
He said the stiff penalty was needed as a deterrent for such extreme antisocial behaviour.
Police told the court the man had been arrested after midnight on Monday with two others, who were carrying iron bars. The men told police they had just come from Cronulla and claimed they had been harassed by a group of people of Middle Eastern appearance.”
Full story here: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17570077-2,00.html
Steve, I don’t think anyone is jumping to ‘extreme conclusions’. On the information available, this guy was jailed for four months for carrying the branch of a tree. Four months.
And guys with the kind of baseball bats that had been used to vandalise cars had thm politelyy taken off them and no doubt will get them politely returned.
btw, why weren’t the guys with iron bars arrested? Could it be the police were afraid of them?
Rob, I agree on the face of it it seems incredibly harsh. However, even with Yobbo’s story he’s pasted there there is so little information. The two guys with Iron bars have been arrested if you read the story. Why was he immediately convicted? Because if you look at some other stories other than the one Yobbo sited, he pleaded guilty.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1531158.htm
“Jay Mark Innes was found by police early on Monday morning in Penrith with a tree branch and told officers he had been in Cronulla.
He has pleaded guilty to being armed with an offensive implement and has been sentenced to four months in jail by a magistrate at Penrith Local Court.”
Pleading guilty is probably not wise in the circumstances. Of course this makes the harsh sentence look worse if he delivered a guilty plea, but it makes the stuff Yobbo said about “without the courtesy of a jury or even time to prepare a defense” a bit silly. If he wanted time for a defence he should have pleaded innocent, presumably like the iron bar wielders did.
What is it with the police in NSW? They’re running around conducting dawn raids on people who were just sitting in their car, while thugs that travel to another suburb and bash and stab innocent bystanders and smash 100 cars can’t be found. The whole cause of this problem has been that police refused to deal with Lebanese gangs, or weren’t allowed to. Now it looks like more of the same. It looks like Iemma kow-towing to his Lakemba electorate, where most of the thugs live.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shadow-of-doubt-over-nazi-claims/2005/12/20/1135032020209.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/arrested-but-not-worrying-anyone/2005/12/20/1135032020215.html
Steve: The reason he pleaded guilty is probably that such an offense usually simply carries a fine and no prison sentence.
Obviously if all you’re expecting is a fine, then pleading guilty is the smart thing to do because the fine is probably going to be less than the cost of your lawyer.
However he was unlucky enough to get a judge who decided that because he was white, he should serve as an example to all the other (white) rioters in Cronulla.
None of this changes the fact that carrying a weapon to defend yourself with should not be a crime in the first place. Nor does it change the fact that other individuals who happen to be MOMEAs were not even arrested for the exact same thing.
I must say that suddenly throwing the book at someone seems dodgy and I would have thought contestable on appeal.
“None of this changes the fact that carrying a weapon to defend yourself with should not be a crime in the first place.”
Well yes possibly but this is a problem with the law rather than the way its been applied in this instance.
“Nor does it change the fact that other individuals who happen to be MOMEAs were not even arrested for the exact same thing.”
I agree this is true, however as I said we don’t know the circumstances of the two arrests, and also we don’t know whether other whites were similary disarmed and sent on there way. We also do know that quite a few MOMEA have been arrested for various things. If they are been treated equally I’ve got no idea – there has only been one conviction so far but trying to impute a pattern of behaviour from two reports is a stretch.
Steve: I realise that police do have some discretion when it comes to whether or not to arrest someone for a particular crime, but this usually does not apply to crimes that carry custodial sentences.
Either the custodial sentence is wildly inappropriate for the crime of carrying a weapon, or police are being wildly negligent by not arresting everyone who is caught with one. Police don’t have discretion on letting people off with a warning for things like assault.
“I agree this is true, however as I said we don’t know the circumstances of the two arrests”
The circumstances of the arrest are pretty irrelevant if you ask me. The man was charged with the crime he was charged with, but given a sentence that was considered to be much, much harsher than what was usually handed out.
If he was guilty of some other crime then he should be charged and sentenced for the other crime, not simply punished unduly harshly because the judge “suspects” he might have committed other crimes that day.
Fark. STILL whining. Bloke breaks the law, gets punished.
I’m probably going out on a limb here, but somehow I doubt you’d be so precious about this fellow’s shattered dreams if he’d been a Leb.
Shorter Fyodor: Since I can’t honestly join in this conversation without agreeing with Yobbo, I’ll just call him a racist instead.
Shorter Yobbo: I’m not a racist; I just hate Lebs.
“Fark. STILL whining. Bloke breaks the law, gets punished.”
Didn’t know you were a law and order tubthumping conservative.
I think Yobbo would care less (although still call it an injustice) if the same sentence had been imposed on the baseball bat wielders. Who only had their bats confiscated. And weren’t arrested. Despite the fact that a woman had been hit in the head with a baseball bat. And there are no reports of any tree related assaults.
“I’m probably going out on a limb here, but somehow I doubt you’d be so precious about this fellow’s shattered dreams if he’d been a Leb.”
And I’m probably going out on a limb here, but you agree with Yobbo. You know the sentence is disproportionate and silly. You know that it’s completely hypocritical for the bat wielders not to be arrested, But you can’t bring yourself to agree, because for some reason you’re enjoying being a stubborn shit.
I’m surprised that this thread is still going.
“I really doubt it. How often do you venture into the prole suburbs?”
I catch a train into Blacktown many times a year when visiting my parents. I used to commute between Glendenning, Blacktown and Redfern and that involved walking through Redfern. I used to drink with Young Labor friends in pubs in Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill when I was in Young Labor. I’ve been to Hurstville and Marrickville. And guess what? I survived without even carrying a stick, much less packing a pistol.
“Because I’ve seen you. If you’d ever been in a real fight you’d be dead. ”
Yobs, I’ve never seen you so I don’t know how you’ve ever seen me, except a picture on the Internet that is like 5 years old. I bet you’re a lard-arsed IT nerd whose bark is worse than his bite. Yobbo indeed, more like blobbo (isn’t that what Chris Shiel called you last time – well if going by a person’s picture on a PC is fair enough then if the shoe fits …) You’re probably one of those sports ‘spectators’ who’se wheezing after running 1 km. For chrissake, you’re going on on your blog about the right to bear arms to survive in Australia or to carry goddamned tree branches in your own goddamned suburb. You’ve either watched one too many movies on your laptop or you must go around scared s*itless most of the time.
Tree Branch: Press Left, Right, X, Right, Triangle, Left
“I think Yobbo would care less (although still call it an injustice) if the same sentence had been imposed on the baseball bat wielders. Who only had their bats confiscated. And weren’t arrested. Despite the fact that a woman had been hit in the head with a baseball bat. And there are no reports of any tree related assaults.”
Yobbo – and you, it seems – seem to believe that press reporting of confused events gives you the information required to determine whether the police are being selective in enforcing the law. Bullshit, say I. The bloke broke the law and got punished. The fact you THINK other people were breaking the law and deserved similar punishment has no bearing on the known FACTS of that case.
“And I’m probably going out on a limb here, but you agree with Yobbo. You know the sentence is disproportionate and silly. You know that it’s completely hypocritical for the bat wielders not to be arrested, But you can’t bring yourself to agree, because for some reason you’re enjoying being a stubborn shit.”
Newsflash, Twigster: I don’t agree with Yobbo, but I do agree with you that I’m a stubborn shit. Now that I’ve destroyed your last argument, how about you contribute some fresh manure to this pile of conspicuously outraged ordure.
Jason, I seem to remember Yobbo remarking at some stage that he’s a smoker and asthmatic [yes, I know]. I reckon you could take him in a cage-fight [Iron Blogger!]. Just be sure to avoid the second prong; it tolls for tree.
“Yobbo – and you, it seems – seem to believe that press reporting of confused events gives you the information required to determine whether the police are being selective in enforcing the law. Bullshit, say I. The bloke broke the law and got punished. The fact you THINK other people were breaking the law and deserved similar punishment has no bearing on the known FACTS of that case.”
Presumably you’ve never made a similar judgement based only media reports. But let’s just examine them again to see what we can reasonably infer:
In the first case, a man was arrested with two others, for carrying a weapon in a public place. This happened after they claim to have been harassed by Lebanese Gangs. He was carrying a tree branch. Presumably the other two pleaded not guilty, and he pleaded guilty expecting to cop a fine. Instead, because of the charged social and political climate, he recieves four months in jail. Not a suspended sentence, but do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.
Now, your claim that you don’t think the sentence is disproportionate and silly rings a bit hollow. But then again, maybe you do. You haven’t really provided a reason other than he broke the law, end of story. He broke the law, fine, he needs to be sentenced accordingly. Four months is ridiculously harsh, even in the climate. I’ll wager that it’s the increased police powers and numbers that are keeping the situation under control, not the ridiculous sentence to be handed to this unfortunate fellow.
However, assuming for a second that such a punishment is justified, then it should be applied across the board, to act as a deterrent to all. In the second case, a group of middle eastern men were approached by police, and their baseball bats were confiscated. Admittedly, this was a week or so after the other incident, but statements from the police and others had made it very clear that similar behaviour would not be tolerated. Therefore, the same tough rules should still apply. However, two baseball bats were confiscated, and none of the men were arrested.
Now, they could have been four innocent guys out for a stroll after a carefree game of baseball, but I don’t think that’s particularly likely. Furthermore, channel Seven claim to have documents revealing that police were instructed to stay away from certain troublespots, before the trouble on Monday night. I think it’s fair to say that the police and political response has been inconsistent.
But you say that you don’t agree with that. Fair enough. Can you give any reason why you think the sentence handed out wasn’t disproportionate?
Break law, get caught, do time. Sooner or later they might understand cause and effect, and modify behaviour. Perhaps police should just get on with the job.
anybody who thinks these MOMEA (mommy’s boys) are harmless is kidding themselves
they move in packs and are always looking for trouble
most incidents are actually not reported in the media
I (50 yr old Aussie) had a car accident (their fault) with two of these thugs, their MO is that the passenger gets out and shouts vile abuse at you and demands to know where you live so they can come around (with a few mates) and collect (even if their fault) while the other guy(s) move around behind and let go with a king hit, they don’t even know what it means to be an aussie!
this happened to me and it was recorded on security camera, otherwise the cops would not have even laid charges, as it is they don’t want to see any evidence like medical reports and so on, and have reduced the charge while the MOMEAS Daddy pays to employ an expensive solicitor to delay preliminary hearing by 5 months so far
the take home message must be that either nobody gives a stuff or somebody needs these bastards votes