It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.
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.
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.
Neither Central nor Downing Street court have an appearance listed for tomorrow, nevertheless, I’ll be at Downing Center at 9am to see Brendan McMahon enter his plea. Of course I don’t know what will happen, but I fear that he will be given a non custodial sentence.
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.
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.
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.?
I wrote this last thursday, the 13th of October. Since then, I have been portrayed by The Australian as a crazed activist, just to discredit my wonderful sister in law, and been through the absolute worst misery I can recall.
I still am not ready to talk about everything that is going on with me, but I feel it’s important to keep this case alive, and share my experiences in the hope that there will be enough outrage to get a decent sentence.
——————————
Downing Street Centre 13.10.2005
I have just returned from the court.
Brendan McMahon does not look a lot like the court illustration, and sitting calmly outside the courtroom he looked like he could have been a lawyer, not a defendant. He has a craggy face, a thin frame, and was very well dressed – like the banker he used to be. He made no attempt to avoid eye contact, and sat without speaking to anyone. I didn’t hear him say a word the entire time.
I entered the small courtroom, and waited while the press filed in. Apart from the press and the lawyers, there were about 6 other people in the court. Before the judge entered, the lawyers discussed dates. I couldn’t hear everything that was said. When the judge entered, she was asked by the defense for a later court date, due to the large amount of evidence in this case. The prosecution had no objection, and the judge set the date for the 10th of November, bail to continue until that time. Representations to be given to the DPP by the 20th of October.
And that was it. The press raced out to get to the front of the court before him, and I was left to share an elevator with him and his lawyer, and a woman (I don’t know who she is). She said something about the number of people in the court, so I introduced myself as being from the Australian Companion Rabbit Society, and I saw his shoulders stiffen – he had his back to me. The lawyer nodded to me.
I collected my camera and my phone from the law (security in the court is pretty tight), and came down to the front steps to wait with the press. The trio had left the lift at the first floor, so we weren’t sure if he was taking a back exit (very unusual for the courts to allow this), or wether they were waiting till the press went away.
After about 30 minutes of waiting, they came out. I got a pic, but I don’t think it’s going to be much good. The press chased him down the street, and when they returned, I was mobbed. I was interviewed for ch 7 news, the Australian, AAP, The Telegraph, The Sydney Morning Herald, a guy from New Zealand, and a few radio stations.
I spoke about the reasons he chose rabbits as his victims, and I hope that will give the press something to talk about, to keep the case alive. Since the matter is before the courts, there is very little the press can talk about publicly, but general stuff, like pet shop policies, and the psychology behind his actions will provide fodder for the press. I intend to do everything I can to keep this case in the public eye.
While there are further charges pending, it has not yet been decided if they will be laid or not. The police won’t do all the paperwork to prepare for laying the charges unless they get a commitment from the Department of Public Prosecutions that they will be aggressively pursuing the case. If the DPP don’t intend to push for a harsh sentence, there is no point in the police laying the groundwork. I have been asked by the detective in charge of the case to prepare a document for the DPP that outlines the reasons that rabbits were chosen as his victims. Margo deMello from the House Rabbit Society has offered to help me with this.
Hopefully the DPP won’t need to be lobbied in order for them to take this seriously, but stay posted.
Grasshopper is back ! He disappeared on Saturday afternoon (he must have pushed open the screen door while we were cleaning the house), and bounced around the back yard for two days.
Mark found him under the house this afternoon, and when he ran out I managed to herd him back in to the house. Where he promptly peed a huge volume, like he’d been saving up for 2 days….
Never been happier to see him pee all over the place 🙂
Anna Wintour, fur fan and fashion magazine editor gets a tofu cream pie in her fur framed face. Can’t say I feel sorry for her…..
Read the Sydney Morining Herald article here.
It occurred to me that some people may not know who Brendan McMahon is. I won’t go into detail, but you can read the story here.
Disco Knitter 