<snip> Wasn't it marge Simpson who said "shoot em all and let god sort em
out" which, if I'm not mistaken, is the gist of what your saying. <snip>
Nope, that is not what I am saying. When I referred to the point about a
'one time offender', I was implying that the court has a duty to apply a
sentence that will deter that particular behaviour.
My personal opinion is that it does seem a harsh punishment when you
consider the crime, however, the law and the punishment are not a facsimile
of my opinion and therefore what I think doesn't matter.
Before I wrote the email response to Sean last night I took time out to
speak to a friend of mine (a senior policeman) for an opinion, I then got a
point of view from a Court Clerk (The legal brains in a Magistrates Court
for those that don't know) as to how the sentencing works and what factors
are taken into consideration, the gist of which I reported on last night. I
did this, not to cause a huge debate about the right and wrongs of our legal
/ judicial system but to give some understanding as to what goes on behind
the scenes and help to give a balanced rounded view.
Being able to see this scenario from all perspectives could help to
highlight a point upon which to base an appeal.
All we know are the bare bones of the story that Sean told yesterday, what
we all seem to be guilty of is building up a scenario with the facts
included rather than looking at the facts of the case in black and white, I
did, I imagined the coppers kicking seven shades of shit out of the fan!
A public order offence was committed that is without doubt otherwise it
wouldn't have got to court, it is irrelevant whether the person the remarks
were aimed at is a girl guide, fat hairy biker or a policeman. All the court
did was take into consideration the fact that the lad was travelling home
from a match, this is something that they allowed to do and the handed out
an ancillary order, in this case a ban of 3 years.
All I have done is point out that there are other things that need to be
considered when the sentence is set.
If anyone wants to look into this further and debate the issue, I have a
copy of the Magistrate Court Sentencing Guidelines in pdf format that I can
pass on, although I am sure that it is available on the interweb.
Sean - I will email it to you to pass onto your mate.
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Sorry Macca - it's the curse of Bates old lad
