Bash someone unconscious - 80 hours community service???

Jivrashia said :

So, I’ll paraphrase my original comment – I hope you are making a judgement based on facts, including those that wasn’t available to the court.
Because 80hours community service IS a bit of a surprise after seeing the footage. I think we can agree there.

Indeed, we can agree 🙂

Tooks said :

gazket said :

“At a sentencing hearing last week, defence lawyer, James Maher, said his client wanted to use his experience to teach young Canberrans.”

what experience would that be. How to try and use mental illness as an excuse for bashing people ?

80 community service and $125 fine . I expect the guy who got hit paid a lot more than $125 for medical bills.

jeez Judge Peter Dingwall hit him with a feather.

Given it was a common assault (ie. no significant injury), I doubt his medical bills would’ve amounted to much, if anything. It would be rare for anyone, unless they were a recidivist offender, to do any jail time for a common assault. The sentence seems light, but I wasn’t in the court room to hear all the evidence so I can’t say if it was appropriate or not. And neither can anyone here, really.

We have seen the video, what extra evidence could there have been. The punches were pretty much fairy taps, the kick to the face was intended to mame .
I would expect 80 hours community service for a shop lifting offence, 80 hours community service for a violent assault is a joke. The punishment should of been more like 300 hours community service.

magiccar9 said :

It’s a horrendous crime, hands down, and needs a serious punishment. Until criminals start getting punished for crimes like this, we’re not going to see a reduction in alcohol fuelled violence (or violence in general for that matter).

Horrendous.

And this is why legislators sometimes get off their butts to introduce mandatory sentencing laws – because you absolutely cannot rely on the judiciary to apply sentencing in a reasonable and competent way. Victims’ rights are ignored and criminals are pandered to to an extraordinary extent.

An assault of this nature should result in years of prison.

By all means, build a lot more prisons (just don’t get the fraud-prone ACT government to run them), anything to remove violent criminals from society.

Antagonist said :

Jivrashia said :

Let me know when you get the full story.

The following two articles directly address your concerns. Perhaps try taking your own advice before rejoining the conversation:

I try not to be hypocritical most of the time.
And so I declare that I have no idea, especially whether the punishment fits the crime. Maybe it doesn’t, maybe it does.
Which is why I said that I would have liked to see what happened in the lead up to the incident, to get a better grasp of the facts.

What I tried to point out is the issue of people who make judgement based on snippets of newspaper articles. My experience is that it is often the case that media can only manage to convey a small portion of a court case, and one hardly gets the entire picture.

Yet you simply identified the cause as an alcohol-fueled violence, even though the word alcohol did not once appear on the source provided (news articles).

So, I’ll paraphrase my original comment – I hope you are making a judgement based on facts, including those that wasn’t available to the court.
Because 80hours community service IS a bit of a surprise after seeing the footage. I think we can agree there.

Tooks said :

Given it was a common assault (ie. no significant injury), I doubt his medical bills would’ve amounted to much, if anything. It would be rare for anyone, unless they were a recidivist offender, to do any jail time for a common assault. The sentence seems light, but I wasn’t in the court room to hear all the evidence so I can’t say if it was appropriate or not. And neither can anyone here, really.

Are you being serious? No significant injury? The guy was unconscious after being punched and kicked over 11 times? And you don’t think that would cause injury? Wow.

Also, what further evidence would be needed? I don’t think there could be anything presented to justify what we all see in the video. It’s a horrendous crime, hands down, and needs a serious punishment. Until criminals start getting punished for crimes like this, we’re not going to see a reduction in alcohol fuelled violence (or violence in general for that matter).

Victim was male. If they were female it would have been 15 years.

miz said :

I too think there are lots of anomalies in sentencing.

Amen that! What did Peter Slipper get for $1000 fraud? Criminal conviction, 2 years good behaviour bond, 300 odd hours of community service … but beat somebody senseless and you get SFA.

Jivrashia said :

Let me know when you get the full story.

The following two articles directly address your concerns. Perhaps try taking your own advice before rejoining the conversation:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-30/man-avoids-jail-time-after-vicious-attack-in-canberra/5780060?section=act

Of particular relevance is the clause “Magistrate Dingwell told the court Burnell had shown remorse because he pleaded guilty.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-26/civic-bash/5772330?section=act

Also note the meaning of “jocular”, which I quote directly from the dictionary: Humorous; Enjoying making people laugh. Note this definition in no way indicates an “understandable” response.

gazket said :

“At a sentencing hearing last week, defence lawyer, James Maher, said his client wanted to use his experience to teach young Canberrans.”

what experience would that be. How to try and use mental illness as an excuse for bashing people ?

80 community service and $125 fine . I expect the guy who got hit paid a lot more than $125 for medical bills.

jeez Judge Peter Dingwall hit him with a feather.

Given it was a common assault (ie. no significant injury), I doubt his medical bills would’ve amounted to much, if anything. It would be rare for anyone, unless they were a recidivist offender, to do any jail time for a common assault. The sentence seems light, but I wasn’t in the court room to hear all the evidence so I can’t say if it was appropriate or not. And neither can anyone here, really.

“At a sentencing hearing last week, defence lawyer, James Maher, said his client wanted to use his experience to teach young Canberrans.”

what experience would that be. How to try and use mental illness as an excuse for bashing people ?

80 community service and $125 fine . I expect the guy who got hit paid a lot more than $125 for medical bills.

jeez Judge Peter Dingwall hit him with a feather.