Author: laranettle

A Minor Win

Brendan McMahon’s application for his case to be considered under the Mental Health Act was denied today.

Judge Helen Symes found that while he met the criteria for consideration under section 32 of the act, she belived that the serious nature of the crime meant that the public interest would be best served by having the matter heard before the law.

McMahon has pleaded not guilty, and a date for a hearing will be set next thursday, the 23rd of December. The hearing will most likely take place in February or March of next year.

I must admit that I was not feeling hopeful that the courts would treat this matter with the serious consideration that I feel it deserves, and todays decision was somewhat of a relief. It is still very possible that he won’t receive a custodial sentence, but hearing the Magistrate use the words “protection of the public”, and “serious nature of the crime”, was a glimmer of hope in what has otherwise been a very bleak horizon.

Mental Health Hearing Tomorrow

He was locked up again for breaching bail. Apparently he moved house without informing the police.

He was due to go before a magistrate this afternoon, and I haven’t heard what happened, but he probably was released again.

Tomorrow is the mental health hearing. I expect that the judge will find that he was nuts when he broke the law, but perfectly sane now. He can’t go to prison because he was nuts, but he can’t go to hospital because he’s sane now.

I could be wrong, and he may get prison time, but it’s unlikely, and we need to be prepared for the worst.

Next Court Date

There will be a hearing under Section 32 of the Mental Health Act on the 16th of December.

The Sydney Morning Herald published a piece that referenced the psyche report that seemed ver sympathetic to McMahon, and I fear the courts will treat him similarly – after all, he only did it because he loves animals.

Bestiality Charge Dropped

Bestiality Charges Dropped

The Prosecutor and the defence are drinking buddies. Does that have anything to do with the charge being dropped ? Who knows. I am still trying to find out. I spoke to the prosecutor yesterday and heard that the bestiality charge was to be dropped, I can only guess that either they didn’t think they could get a conviction, or that there is something funny going on.

Though there is proof of a sexual connection, apparently there was no penetration, so it may make the charge difficult to prove. Mercifully I have not read the entire case file, and am unaware of exactly what the evidence against him is.

He is making an application to be considered to have diminished capacity under section 23 (or is it 32, it’s been a long day) of the mental health act. That means that the likelihood of him serving actual jail time is minimal.

If anyone has access to a criminal lawyer that has some insight into this process, I’d be really grateful for any information.

There Are No Absolutes, But…

No matter how vile the crime, I still believe that the death penalty is absolutely wrong. I am not really up to explaining why right now, but despite the fact that I would really like to see Brendan McMahon locked up for a very long time, I cannot imaging wanting him to die.

Van Nyguen is a young Australian who made some bad decisions. He did something criminal, stupid, and indefensible. But he doesn’t deserve to die.

Please take a moment to let the Government of Singapore know that the death penalty is barbaric, primitive, and cruel.

http://www.australiaunites.com.au/

Ack….

Article from Sunday Telegraph

From The Sunday Telegraph, Sydney, 20/11/2005

So he was locked up again – and a judge saw fit to let him out. Apparently it’s really rare for an offender to be locked up for not showing up at the police station, so I suppose that the Police are being hyper vigilant with this guy. Bless them.

Unfortunately the magistrate at Parramatta Local Court isn’t quite so aware of what this man is capable of, and he is out again. Not sure about the court date being wednesday – if the reporter got his name wrong then there is a strong possibility that the date is wrng too.

More info as it comes to hand.

Court Appearance

I went to court again today – but by the time I got there, it was all over. Another adjournment, till the 24th of November for a plea.

Who knows what the plea will be, and what type of sentence he’ll get.

David King, the journo from The Australian, was there. He looked at me guiltily, and sped off. Hooray. I think I might be getting over it.

I still feel like the last year has been a test, and perhaps I am coming out the other side. Perhaps.

Same Sex Couples Recognised in Anti Terror Legislation

Gee – isn’t our paranoid right wing government progressive….

Media Release – Office of Senator Kerry Nettle

Same sex couples recognised in terror law

19 October 2005

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said today the government’s recognition of same-sex couples in its planned terror laws was a pleasing shift in policy.

Clauses in Schedule 4 of the Draft Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 defining which family members could be contacted by someone in preventative detention include same-sex partners in the definition of family member.

“It is great to see the government recognising same sex relationships. But this is not the legislation for it. This bill is about removing the fundamental rights of all Australians and the Government is ensuring that they also remove the rights of same sex couples”, Senator Nettle said.

“If someone is detained for 14 days under the Government’s proposed terrorism legislation, the Government is ensuring that they can ring their same sex partner to tell them they are detained but not why or where they are.

“The government is making a mockery of the importance of recognising same sex relationships by placing this clause in terrorism legislation but not in marriage, adoption or tax law where recognising same sex relationships would require the government to provide entitlements.

“Why does the extent of the government’s support for same-sex couples end at allowing them to talk to a loved one if they are locked up for two weeks without charge?

The government is happy to legislate away the positive rights of same-sex couples but recognise them when locking up a gay or lesbian under the terror laws.”

“This new revelation further reinforces the unbalanced and dangerous thrust of the government’s terrorism policy.”

The controversial proposed terrorism laws include home detention for 12 months and detention by federal police for two weeks of people deemed to be a risk but not convicted of an offence.

Giant Pink Knitted Rabbit

Press Release

Sounds a little disgusting, and not entirely ecop friendly – but hey, it’s pink….

Re-posted from KnitNet.com…

Three hours from Nice on a northern Italian mountaintop, the art collective “gelitin” has installed a giant knitted bunny that will grace the landscape for the next 20 years. The launch of the work took place on a Sunday morning in September when a procession left the town square in Artesina, Piedmont, for the mountain.

Artanova reports that the 200?foot-long toy rabbit lies on the side of the 5,000 foot high Colletto Fava. Gelatin, it reports, designed the giant soft toy and say it was “knitted by dozens of grannies out of pink wool”. Group member Wolfgang Gantner said, “It’s supposed to make you feel small, like Gulliver. You walk around it and you can’t help but smile.”

Gelitin expects hikers to climb the bunny’s 20-foot sides and relax on its belly.

Here?s the Artists’ statement:
?Rabbit
The things one finds wandering in a landscape: familiar things and utterly unknown, like a flower one has never seen before, or, as Columbus discovered, an inexplicable continent; and then, behind a hill, as if knitted by giant grandmothers, lies this vast rabbit, to make you feel as small as a daisy.

The toilet-paper-pink creature lies on its back: a rabbit-mountain like Gulliver in Lilliput. Happy you feel as you climb up along its ears, almost falling into its cavernous mouth, to the belly-summit and look out over the pink woolen landscape of the rabbit?s body, a country dropped from the sky; ears and limbs sneaking into the distance; from its side flowing heart, liver and intestines.

Happily in love you step down the decaying corpse, through the wound, now small like a maggot, over woolen kidney and bowel. Happy you leave like the larva that gets its wings from an innocent carcass at the roadside. Such is the happiness which made this rabbit.

i love the rabbit the rabbit loves me.?