9 January 2007

Amber still at large

| johnboy
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Thanks to Bonfire for the tip, the Herald Sun reports that Amber Jane Westin remains on bail despite failing three drug tests and an earlier bail breach.

“A young mother who allegedly caused a fatal crash during a police pursuit received a stern warning from a judge today to stick to her bail conditions after two breaches already”

I hope Chief Magistrate Ron Cahill is as indulgent to the rest of us should we appear before him.

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Nyssa

I have asked you to stop making me agree with you. LOL

Danman, nah Clerks is a great movie…

Of all the stereotypical pot smokers – we get one straight from the set of clerks.

I’m just glad his almost hippie thoughts aren’t being used a gospel in a classroom.

You’re a student with no real life experience.

(don’t smirk now vg) Whereas vg actually has life experience in the field of law enforcement and actually knows what he is talking about.

“I’m not a teacher, someone else made that up. I’m a happy worker at some supermarket no-one would be interested in and a lazy-ass student”

I think that says it all

Deadmandrinking3:27 am 11 Jan 07

And I will not mention drugs any more, Johnboy. Sorry about that, I kinda went to the comment thingie immediately after I read DJ’s comment.

Deadmandrinking3:25 am 11 Jan 07

I’m not a teacher, someone else made that up. I’m a happy worker at some supermarket no-one would be interested in and a lazy-ass student. And yes, when I do smoke pot, I am committing an offence. However, the offence I’m committing does not affect anyone else but myself. I’m not on the dole, I don’t take other people’s money to buy drugs and I don’t do much when I’m stoned apart from gobble down munchies and laugh at stuff from the 80’s.

DJ please don’t tell me he’s a teacher…

No sympathy for Amber what-so-ever. She did the crime she should do time! She didn’t learn when she killed another person and she has no respect for the law because she keeps breaching her bail conditions. Lock her up and at least that way she will become drug and alcohol free. Maybe without these influences she might just realise what she has done and grow up.

OK, any more comment on drug law one way or another is getting killed off on this thread.

It’s not relevant, her bail conditions included not drinking alcohol which is legal to do.

No correspondence will be entered into.

“I pay for my drug with money I earn and use them in either my home or my friends – hardly hurting anyone else in the community”

Huh? Did you read it before hitting the “say it!” button? It’s against the law to grow, possess or use it. Or is it different because it’s natural? I bet you use the argument that it’s less harmful than smoking too? Putting aside the addiction for a moment, pure heroin isn’t actually bad for you either – care for a taste or a little tickle? Chase the dragon for a bit of fun eh?

Ask the youngest student you teach to point out to you the obvious harm it does.

Any smoking pot can lead to psych problems – go to the psych ward during a full moon.

Deadmandrinking6:30 pm 10 Jan 07

I think the lack of having my hand on my dick has led me to avoid developing such black and white views of the world, kiwi.
And smoking weed constantly does lead to psychological addiction. Just like smokes, it can be hard to get off.
nd fo the record, I’m not a huge pot head. An occasional puff after a long night of drinking, yes, but I pay for my drug with money I earn and use them in either my home or my friends – hardly hurting anyone else in the community.

Heroin and ice, yes. Marijuana, no.

Besides, no one forces you to toke down.

FFS, it’s your choice what you do and your actions will have consquences.

I choose to smoke. I may end up with lung cancer or live to 80 like my smoking pop with no medical conditions attached. I know the risks, it’s my fault, so deal with it.

No wonder kids believe in all the “rights” by no responsibilities.

I don’t think DMD was looking for sympathy, just simply arguing that weed can be difficult to come off.

Maybe you should get your hand on your dick a bit more DMD. That might get rid of some of your stress. And then, grow a friggin brain.
One day, if you haven’t stuffed your DNA up completely from all your dope smoking, you may have children, and those children could possibly have their life ended very quickly by some non thinking jerk like Amber or her ilk, and then you might be able to understand why some of us feel so deeply about the inadequate system we have in place at the moment. The judicial system in Canberra is a joke and i feel for all the cops who have a bloody tough time of it, trying to ensure the public that they’re doing their job, but then the courts just make a mockery of it. Go figure.

Poor diddums you having trouble getting off your illegal drug… Boo Hoo who gives a crap. If you are stupid enough to engage in repetitive use of an illegal substance you deserve everything you get, just don’t use it as a bs excuse when you get caught breaking the law.

You don’t think that waste of air should be in jail? counselling is an option? If I were a person who had just killed someone, I would be doing everything in my power to show the court I was sorry and trying to change, what is this derro doing, nothing but wasting my tax paid dollars that she gets courtesy of Centrelink either in a puff of smoke or a shot up her arm contrary to a bail condition SHE SIGNED AND AGREED NOT TO DO.

Maybe a good stint in jail will show her how bad life can really get……….without her kid!

Deadmandrinking2:25 pm 10 Jan 07

Andy – maybe if you do the occasional toke every weekend. But if you’re smoking up every day, well, it’s a bit of a difficult habit to break. Especially when you’re stressed.

Is this a case of double negative ?

sorry, Im glad I found this site, because I can say what I think and hopefully others may agree, but this girl should be put in jail, she killed someone for goodness sake, bail? whats the point in arresting her in the first place, she is as the saying goes – getting away with murder!
That poor child of hers also should be taken away from her there is another case for DOCS to ignore!

andy, I’m sorry but from my personal experience it is.
Now, while your experience may be different you cannot contests what I experienced.
I’m not defending the actions of ppl breaking bail conditions.

deadmandrinking, no, it’s not a hard thing to stop.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt8:28 am 10 Jan 07

“We should simply show Amber the respect she shows for society as a whole.

That being none whatsoever…. “

Exactly.

I think she’s probably addicted to weed though, and from personal experience, I know that’s a hard thing to suddenly stop.

Certainly if my freedom depended on it – though in the ACT – its pretty indicitave that bail conditions = not really much – as demonstrated.

DMD I completely agree with you, however if it was in my bail conditions not to smoke, I’d do my darnedest not to.

Deadmandrinking2:03 am 10 Jan 07

I think she’s probably addicted to weed though, and from personal experience, I know that’s a hard thing to suddenly stop.

Chief Magistrate Ron Cahill said today that any drug use was not tolerable.
“Anymore”. Or “a fourth time”, maybe. I’d love to read the actual quote.

Yes and Yes, LaLucha, without being silly about the second point and the first, too, I guess. At least I’m honest. My understanding of “troll” in internet parlance is an “ordinary bloke”. Is … is that your understanding? I gotta go to bed. Ciao.

Is Luca a troll, or does he really believe that women are inferior to men? I’ve noticed a few comments of his have generalised about women and said that they don’t think the law applies to them.

Why should we have people spend years of their lives practicing and studying law to work their way from the bench to the judiciary, when we could simply just do a vox pop to see if someone is guilty or not guilty, and then determine whether or not its a hanging offence!

I don’t understand why this magistrate, or many others, make the decisions that they do, but I think they are in a much better position to be making those decisions than Joe Average. They have access to a lot more information about the situation than we do, and yes, sometimes they fuck up, but at least they have earnt the right to fuck up. And as far as the breaches go, discretion is able to be applied, because there are breaches and there are breaches.

What’s the point in setting bail conditions, if you can happily breach them, and suffer no consequences. It’s classic ‘boy who cried wolf’.

read sentencing as her next court appearance

This isnt about the legality of pot smoking – its about teh fact that she was given quite explicit “rules” in order for her to remain out of custody until sentencing.
These rules have been breached several times now – regardless of what they were – they were against the orders of teh courts and they are just letting her walk all over their so called authority.

Sure smoking pot may be harmless – it is even decriminalised – but if the magistrate gave her a condition of bail not to smoke it and she does – well then she forfeits her rights as a free citizen*

*in any other jurisdiction thats not the ACT

If you’ve got a bit of paper saying you’ll be drug tested and if it’s positive you’ll lose your bail then a reasonable person might think those things may happen.

Of course we’re all wrong and Amber is right, she really can do what she likes without consequence.

Woody Mann-Caruso9:57 pm 09 Jan 07

thanks to Amber being a waste of space with no regard for the law or for the lives of others.

Allegedly.

She deserves to be in jail.

First, she deserves a trial.

anyone who is bailed on a charge of culpable driving causing death and continues to toke down despite knowing they will be tested, even after failing the first test, is a danger to society.

So if you smoke dope, you’re not a danger to society, but if a piece of paper says you’ve been charged with a crime, that same dope smoking makes you a danger to society?

Thousands of Canberrans will toke up tonight (not me – beer is my poison). Students, the unemployed, shopkeepers, public servants, lawyers, child care workers, teachers – people from all walks of life. None of them will go to jail for it, even if caught. The idea that a behaviour that the law judges, for the most part, to be a minor misdemeanour should suddenly become grounds for revoking a person’s freedom simply because they’ve been charged (that’s charged, not convicted) of a crime is a pretty unreasonable one. If she’s such a danger to society, she shouldn’t be on bail. If she is on bail, it should’t be subject to irrelevant or irrational sanctions. Driving while under the influence? Sure. Sitting at home stoned on the couch? Gimme a break.

well what was the use of that! If WIN showed the guy’s face it might have jogged his memory as in “f…k that’s me on TV”! Presumably there’s some broadcasting code that stopped it? We live in a silly society with a fetish for sensitivity about other peoples’ feelings!

win news showed the guy strolling that police want to interview.

i could swear they pixellated out the guys face.

… and another thing (I’m very pissed off.I’ve had a bad day at work and coming home this silly cow didn’t give way to me, a pedestrian, as she zipped across the footpath into the drive-way of her home. Amber is a female … I’m starting to see a connection here!), even if the Authorities manage to get Amber babe to Court, how do we know the charges against her won’t be dismissed, not because the evidence didn’t sustain them, but because, in the words of the DPP, the (Supreme)Court had an apparent antipathy toward the Prosecution!

What happened to this hugely important issue? I’ll tell you how I imagined it was resolved. An emissary of the legal establishment approached the relevant parties at the Club and said: “listen chaps, let’s keep this little spat in-house, shall we! There’s no need to frighten the horses! We have a nice little situation going here, why spoil it with all this talk of a … a malfunction in the Criminal Justice System. The public just doesn’t appreciate the subtleties and nuances involved in criminal prosecutions, the implications to be made, inferences to be drawn, the fine balancing of competing considerations and a damn good thing eh what! Little darlings would soon be telling us how to do our jobs! Scrutinising us even! They might even call for the establishment of a Judicial Commission as in NSW! Hells Bells! Come on now chaps, let bygones be bygones. Tomorrow is another day! Bottoms up”.

The ABC news report said Police were searching for witnesses (as shown on a CCTV). Must be one of the few CCTVs permitted in the Nation’s Capital by the ACT Government and its civil libertarian pals! My point is – here is an example of a CCTV providing valauable information. We need more of them! Everywhere, and particularly near my home!

I-Filed, the Judge who presided over Ms Singh’s case was Justin Ken Crispin. Very compassionate chap like all the ACT Justices!

Below is a link to a Blog in “The Australian” where a chap said he was robbed twice in Canberra and feels safer in the US (BT (09 Jan at 04.36am))!

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/whose_morals_are_bulletproof/

The quicker the ACT Criminal Justice System is outsourced to NSW, the safer we’ll all be!

Deadmandrinking7:10 pm 09 Jan 07

quiet, they might figure out we’re all stoned.

Is he the judge who let Anu Singh off????

Whoops, almost knocked over my custom orchy bong.

Deadmandrinking6:58 pm 09 Jan 07

maybe I’ve picked the wrong example to go on about my views on drug laws and prison reforms. But it’s fuel for the fire.

Deadmandrinking6:57 pm 09 Jan 07

Dude, there’s a weed drought, remember?

DMD,

I agree that prison reform would be a wonderful thing, and drug law reform likewise.

But in the circumstances here she was given conditions for her continued freedom and has repeatedly ignored them.

That she was ignoring a court summons at the time of her alleged fatal accident makes that frankly terrifying.

No matter what you think of the merits of smoking dope, anyone who is bailed on a charge of culpable driving causing death and continues to toke down despite knowing they will be tested, even after failing the first test, is a danger to society.

Yeah DMD, cannabis hasn’t ever caused problems in society…. rose coloured glasses and a smoke screen clouding your view?

Beer and smokes are just as bad before you attack me!

DMD may, and this is a stab in the dark, be taking the piss….

Most people have no idea what it’s like to attend and an incident, take appropriate action and have an offender put before the Courts only to have logic and common sense ignored.

If you have been a victim of a crime, violent or otherwise (please ignore fashion crimes that your parents subjected you to), and bail was repeatedly granted to the offender you should have the ability to MAKE the judiciary accountable…..

Amber should be remanded until her day in Court to protect society. I’m happy as a tax payer to see her there. I’d be happy as a driver on our street to have her there. She’s a very naughty girl

Deadmandrinking6:45 pm 09 Jan 07

I’m not defending her or her actions (apart from the pot smoking part, which, honestly, if i could change the drug laws in this country, I would). What I am saying is that we shouldn’t screw her up further.
What she did was wrong. The suffering of the victims family should have never happened. How can we prevent this from happening again?

DMD once enorlled in rahab facilities, people can leave at will. So you can’t sentence people to rehab – it is equivalent to letting them go.

– Any other ideas?

Maybe but she knew that it would be a breach of her bail conditions.

She made a choice.

Why are you defending a repeat offender who has no regard for human life or the laws of this country?

Deadmandrinking6:14 pm 09 Jan 07

But she was smoking pot on the last bail breach. That doesn’t really hurt anyone but herself.

I gather that people are now sympathetic to some of the frustrations of my job on a daily basis.

Nothing better than locking up a repeat offender, opposing bail, seeing them get bail, and commit identical offences straight away. This woman’s bail shenanigans are the rule rather than the exception in the ACT

How many “chances” does she need?

Is she mentally incapacitated to not know that breaching a bail condition, driving whilst unlicensed or speeding and thus killing someone is wrong?

She took away someone’s right to live. She should have her rights to live in society taken away from her. Our society doesn’t believe in an “eye for an eye” so it’s our only option.

Deadmandrinking6:00 pm 09 Jan 07

thanks man.

Deadmandrinking – you are a fuck muppet

Deadmandrinking5:47 pm 09 Jan 07

Some form of rehab, something that will cause her to realise the full extent of her actions, not just screw up her life even more so she can screw up others.

And what could be better to eat than a chocolate teapot?

Killing someone while running a red light, while fleeing police, while skipping a court appearance, is a heinous act. I think she needs some time behind bars.

DMD, I’m sure that her victim was looking forward to Christmas with her family. However, she can’t do that anymore thanks to Amber being a waste of space with no regard for the law or for the lives of others.

Amber’s actions had severe consequences so stop with the moddy-coddling. She deserves to be in jail.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt4:46 pm 09 Jan 07

I’ve got something you can eat…

DMD what do you honestly recommend happen to her?

Deadmandrinking4:35 pm 09 Jan 07

And I would like to eat a chocolate teapot, so therefore, it’s useful.

Deadmandrinking4:34 pm 09 Jan 07

Look she’s probably going to be behind bars soon anyhow, so you prison-nuts will get what you want in the end.

thats gold sammy

The U.S. Department of Justice is so worried that she’ll rock up on their side of the pond, that they’ve setup a website to follow her activities:

http://www.amberalert.gov

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt3:48 pm 09 Jan 07

Cahill appears to be about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Cahill should be dismissed.

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