A pedophile conviction in Australia isn't even worth a year of jail
On the night of February the 5th two parents became suspicious something was going on outside where their three children were sleeping in a tent. Together they went outside into the backyard to investigate.
As the parents approached the tent they heard their daughter cry: “I want mummy.”
They heard the offender reply: “Don’t worry about mummy, I will keep you warm.”
They opened the tent flap and found him lying naked on top of the girl, whose pants and underpants had been removed. The offender had an erection.
When asked to explain what he was doing he replied: “Just keeping the children warm.”
They say that up to 70% of child sexual abuse cases involve predators who are known to the child and I believe this case is no different. Given that they’ve refused to release the name of the man involved and that he was “hosting (the) family of five when the incident occurred” I’d say there’s a pretty good chance he was family.
I mean how many strangers do you know of who just put up random families up for the night? Let alone letting their kids sleep in a tent in the backyard.
This also explains why the other two children didn’t raise the alarm, they obviously had enough naive trust in the man assume what was happening was kosher.
After being caught with his pants down and his thumb almost in the pie, the man was quickly arrested and the matter heard before a judge.
Guilty as sin was the verdict and the sentence? Wait for it…
A whopping nine months jail.
A man was found drunk with an erection on top of a semi naked five year old girl and he received a jail sentence of nine months. No matter how many times I read over that last sentence it still refuses to make any sense.
This guy didn’t even pull the mental illness defense, he just simply maintained in court that he was there trying “to keep the children warm”.
Arguably he received the lollipop sentence because no penetration occurred. Had it of occurred well he might have been looking at the more severe punishment of 10 months jail.
What boggles my mind however is that there are plenty of other examples of meditated crimes that are foiled before they can be materialised in which the perpetrator receives a much harsher sentence.
For example take the case of Charlotte Lindstrom. Lindstrom received a four years nine month jail sentence for conspiring to kill two witnesses who were set to testify against her boyfriend.
The hitman she set out to hire was an undercover cop and the rest is history. What is of note though is that nobody was actually murdered.
Similarly in the case of the tent pedophile nobody was actually raped, although I find it hard to believe he didn’t have his hands all over her. The events that took place were never contested and the sanity of the perpetrator was never questioned.
How in the hell Justice Alan Blow thought nine months a sufficient sentence I’ll never know.
Amazingly despite my objections however there are those who think it’s too much.
The founder of child protection group Bravehearts, Hetty Johnston, has proposed the two strikes penalty system, which could put multiple sex offenders behind bars indefinitely.
However, a convicted child sex offender, known only as Bob, said such a system would not work because the offender would get less jail time if the victim was simply murdered.
Bob, who has to wear a monitoring bracelet on his leg and lives in a halfway house with other sex offenders, sees a psychiatrist and vows he will never reoffend.
However, he and other sex offenders “still needed more support from the Government”.
Bob said laws were already too harsh against sex offenders and their defence rights were often used as a political football.
“There’s no denying it’s a horrific crime. But sex offenders are topical,” he said.
“At the end of the day we should treat all crimes the same.”
Gun down eighty four kindergarten kids on Christmas Day? LIFE IMPRISONMENT.
Rort your tax return by claiming more then $300 in expenses when you don’t have receipts? LIFE INPRISONMENT.
Yes clearly we should all listen to ‘Bob’ and treat all crimes the same. I don’t think in all of recorded history anyone has ever been at a sentencing for a child sex offender and thought ‘now fair shake of the sauce bottle mate, that’s a bit harsh eh?’
Whilst the point is made that if sentencing wise there’s not much difference between murder and child abuse then there’s more incentive for kiddy fiddlers to murder their victims, I believe that instead of lowering pedophile sentences instead we need to increase the murder sentences.
Whenever this is suggested though people love to point to America and proclaim ‘that doesn’t work though!’
Anyone know what the reoffend rate is for people who spend their lives in prison? That’s right, zero. That my friends is the kind of protection our kids deserve. In nine months the tent pedophile will be back on the streets looking for someone elses kids to rub himself all over.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:08 am David(Quote)
Whilst I am a law abiding citizen, If I was the parent and that was my child – I feel certain I would have taken the law into my own hands, then pleaded temporary insanity after being arrested for murder.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:19 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Whilst it’s easy to see where that sentiment comes from, wouldn’t the more pressing matter on your mind be to get your children to safety?
Imagine the trauma of a child firstly having some guy lie naked on top her and then seeing their father murder someone in cold blood.