The Majesty of the Law

A MUCH-CONVICTED criminal on parole, a man with a record of sexual violence, king hits a young bloke for no reason outside a Geelong cafe and puts him in hospital with a broken jaw. In court, the magistrate notes the accused's sorry history, summons the full authority of the law and sentences the 40-year-old thug to .... three months behind bars. Yes, just three months -- if he served the full term, which is most unlikely. Indeed, the basher may well have been back on the streets before surgeons removed the wire from his victim's jaw.

That attack was in January. Nine months later, the courts have another case to deal with.

Something else: The magistrate in the Geelong matter was appointed to the bench in 2002. His background was in WorkCover cases and personal injury law.

UPDATE: Legal advice has been received that the link originally included in the first paragraph of this post might not be kosher, so the Geelong Advertiser's report of Senior Constable David Vanderpol's account before Geelong Magistrates Court of what transpired in Little Malop Street, as reported by Karen Matthews on February 28, has been removed.

UPDATE II: Not only has the link been removed from this post, the Geelong Advertiser has flushed its report down the memory hole as well. The public has a right to know -- to know what it is told.