25 March 2009

Update on 'Woman held captive in bushland for 4 days'

| skerbo
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There was an item posted back in July 08 on riot act http://the-riotact.com/?p=8046. Just thought I would update that today the accused faced the ACT Magistrates court and was found innocent and cleared of all charges.

I hope this girl who has told all these lies is punished by the legal system.

Surely slander and wasting police and government resources is a crime?

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DJ, I was referring to another matter. Was just commenting on what Angry Henry had said about cases with Males and Females, that people automatically jump to the conclusion that males are in the wrong.

Colourful, not really my place to comment on the specifics of the case but if I can remember correctly he was advised that not applying for bail was the best thing to do as if bail is refused straight up then you cannot apply for bail again for a certain amount of time? And also as he had not had a chance to speak to a solicitor and get his side of the story out.

colourful sydney racing identity9:30 am 26 Mar 09

Why didn’t he apply for bail when he was originally charged?

skerbo said :

Just to back you up on that AngryHenry, I once had a police officer say to me ‘We have no evidence except her word against his. But we believe her, just look at the size of him compared to her’.

My jaw hit the ground.

Hope you picked it up smartly… that’s littering you know.

I can’t imagine that the entire case was based on that alone…. but I guess not knowing helps me sleep better at night.

Jesus, I thought feminism was about equality. Also, the post you’re responding to seems perfectly correct to me, and neither mentioned feminism, nor had any bias against men whatsoever. So is it reasonable to conclude that you’re so skewed that equality to you looks like man-bashing? If not, then perhaps you could enlighten everyone as to the point of your posting.

The charges could have been dropped for a number of reasons. It’s not a finding of innocence. I’m guessing the victim for whatever reason has decided not to proceed with the charges. Witness intimidation? Finding that she really did love the guy who held her captive and he did it out of love? made the story up? fear? lack of evidence? her word against his? speculating is fun though no way of getting the truth though.

The ABC has this story but it just says that the charges have been dropped.

In these circumstances I don’t think it’s ever really possible to clear your name. Neither dropping charges, or even being found not guilty, mean that people will necessarily believe in the innocence of the accused.

That was why I was careful to qualify my statement. I have no idea what happened in this particular case. Unfortunately when it is one person’s word against another sometimes it will be one way and at times it will be another. I am not leaping to conclusions or asking for this girl’s head.

And it is certainly a good point that it happens across both genders.

I guess what I was trying to say was that a woman making false accusations of rape feeds into a particular negative cultural stereotype that I wouldn’t have thought existed for men making false rape accusations.

I think it’s dangerous to make assumptions about the truth of the accusations based on the court outcome.

An aquittal or withdrawal of the charges only enables you to be sure that the accused was not FOUND guilty.

To use a public forum like this to accuse a complainant of lying is a precedent that I would not want to see continue on this site. None of us know the facts or the evidence that lead to the arrest and hearing and shouldn’t be quick to accept the gloating of a relative of the accused.

there are a lot of people who do this, for the attention, or some perverse enjoyment. if you do this sort of thing, you should get time in remand for wasting police resources.

MsCheeky said :

Granny said :

Just a small thing, Granny. Your post would read better if you said ‘People who do such a thing…’ rather than ‘Women who do, etc’… Let’s not attribute it just to the sisterhood. 😉

Ah, feminism. The philosphy that has nothing good to say about men, and nothing bad to say about women. I’ve heard more ‘men do…’ than ‘people do…’ from the sisterhood, and even less ‘some men do…’

Granny said :

If this is true it is most unfortunate.

Women who do such a thing just make the legal process and community attitudes more difficult for real victims, let alone ruining the lives of the accused and their family and friends.

Are there penalties for this kind of behaviour?

Just a small thing, Granny. Your post would read better if you said ‘People who do such a thing…’ rather than ‘Women who do, etc’. Lots of people do such a thing, that is make false accusations, unfortunately. Let’s not attribute it just to the sisterhood. 😉

Maybe she said she made it all up as one of the defendant’s friends got to her. who knows?

DMD – best call ever #24

Lol, fair enough DMD.
The charges were officially dropped in the magistrates court this morning so doubt media have reported it yet, thats if they decide to report on it at all.
But will post a link as soon as I find something!

Deadmandrinking3:49 pm 25 Mar 09

I’d wait till then, I’d say. Sorry, you can’t just trust randoms on the internet these days. I’m still waiting on my Nigerian relative to give me 10 million dollars. The man could have been lying, I don’t know….

Totally understand that DMD but as I posted earlier until the Magistrates Court post it under the ‘decisions’ on their website, there is not much I can do.

Just to back you up on that AngryHenry, I once had a police officer say to me ‘We have no evidence except her word against his. But we believe her, just look at the size of him compared to her’.

My jaw hit the ground.

Deadmandrinking3:44 pm 25 Mar 09

Skerbo, is it possible for you to link to a document or a media release that backs this up? Right now it is just your word.

I do find it an interesting quirk within our society that (in extremely general terms) it is very easy for people to see a woman as a vitim of a man, however it is more difficult for people to see it the other way around. I am confident there are as many psycho chicks out there as guys.

If the guy is innocent (and I think we need some clarification here) it kind of proves the point as to how quick everyone is to judge and often blur the lines between the agressor and victim.

Yes I did turn up when this girl was supposedly being held captive in bushland.
As soon as the magistrates court posts the decision on there website I will post a link. Highly doubting the media will report on this, charges being dropped over something they made a huge deal over isnt really juicy is it?
Especially with everything else that is going on in canberra at the moment.

colourful sydney racing identity3:35 pm 25 Mar 09

you were there? Anyway still waiting for a link to this…

Would not have stated that she told lies if I did not know for sure.

colourful sydney racing identity3:18 pm 25 Mar 09

skerbo said :

I did not start this thread to slander the girl….

But that is precisely what you did when you called her a liar.

Spideydog you may think that I am biased and fair call. But just because I know the accused does not mean that Im about to jump on here and start writing lies.

I did not start this thread to slander the girl, I started this thread to update the public on the outcome as I have seen the pain this man and his family have endured these past 8 months and I think he deserves his name cleared.

colourful sydney racing identity3:10 pm 25 Mar 09

Spideydog said :

What were the actual reason charges were dropped ?? Lack of evidence or the victim confessed to making story up ??

Quote from OP: “I hope this girl who has told all these lies is punished by the legal system.”

Remember this is coming from a biased source – a friend of the accused.

If it was dropped due to “lack of evidence”, we then shouldn’t be jumping on the alleged victim stating they made the story up …..

Correct. like I said above it is a huge difference

What were the actual reason charges were dropped ?? Lack of evidence or the victim confessed to making story up ??

Quote from OP: “I hope this girl who has told all these lies is punished by the legal system.”

Remember this is coming from a biased source – a friend of the accused.

If it was dropped due to “lack of evidence”, we then shouldn’t be jumping on the alleged victim stating they made the story up …..

Granny surely there would have to be?
Im sure plenty of people have lied to police before but this girls lie made police go on a manhunt which surely chewed up alot of police resources and tax payers dollars.

If this is true it is most unfortunate.

Women who do such a thing just make the legal process and community attitudes more difficult for real victims, let alone ruining the lives of the accused and their family and friends.

Are there penalties for this kind of behaviour?

Thanks for the info Skidbladnir, will see what he thinks.

What do you think JB?

If A.K wants to tell us his side of the story, Jb will probably give it a profile.

justbands said :

Just re-read the original story. This news makes some of the comments there more than a bit of a laugh….calls for a jail sentence of life, or even capital punishment!

Justbands thats why I decided to report on this. Shows that we shouldnt jump on the media bandwagon every time we read something.

Sorry ‘colourful sydney racing identity’, I did not word myself correctly in the first post, the charges have been dropped. The police wanted to drop them quite a while back but because the media had made such a big deal out of it the dpp decided to press on. They have now come to there senses and dropped the charges.

Just re-read the original story. This news makes some of the comments there more than a bit of a laugh….calls for a jail sentence of life, or even capital punishment!

colourful sydney racing identity2:24 pm 25 Mar 09

was he found not guilty or were the charges dropped? There is a very, very big difference.

I am a friend of the accused.
The charges have been dropped.
After a gruelling 8 months of having his name slandered across the tabloids and being locked up like a criminal this man deserves some slander free posts.

Found innocent? That’s a new ruling.

colourful sydney racing identity2:17 pm 25 Mar 09

source?

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