Charges dismissed in Canberra nurse case

“It is unclear whether he will resume working at the Canberra Hospital”

Now *that* would be an uncomfortable situation for the folks at the hospital. This is kinda off topic, but related to that theme…

Many years ago my partner came home and told me that an obnoxious colleague had stabbed his wifes lover with a big knife, and would therefore not be returning to work. She was sad about the dead guy, but very happy to be rid of the obnoxious colleague, who was the sort of guy who would go around stabbing people with big knives.

Anyway, the ACT legal system being what it is, the killer got off. Apparently it was actually the fault of the dead guy because he had attacked the killers knife hand with his chest, or something equally reasonable. So a few months after the killing, my partner comes home and glumly says “Well, George (*) is back at work, and everybody is just overjoyed to be working with him”.

The moral of the story? Just because someone is busted for a knife murder, or for for raping demented hospital patients, doesn’t mean you’ve seen the last of them.

(*) Name changed because I can’t remember the blokes actual name.

From memory both men were named at the time of their arrest, so their names have been dragged through the mud as sex offenders for nothing. They should really make it the law that people who are arrested or charged with such offenses are never named until the charge is proven and they are convicted, unless it was in the public interest to do so.

Don’t know anything about this particular case, but speaking generally from past experience, there are significant hurdles in successfully prosecuting sexual assaults against victims that suffer from dementia and other similar conditions.

The victims in these cases are often not reliable witnesses from a Court’s point of view. It is hard, if not impossible, for a prosecutor to show that the victim, a dementia suffer, is a credible witness, when the victim will often have problems knowing what day it is or remembering the names of their children.

Unless the suspect makes a full confession on tape, there is often little chance of success in gaining a conviction.

Can you just imagine the civil suit now………..?