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Swift justice for branch man
A SYDNEY magistrate has thrown the book at a 21-year-old man who was at Sunday's riots in Cronulla, jailing him within hours of his arrest for carrying a tree branch as a weapon in the western suburb of Penrith. The swift justice happened because the man was charged with carrying an offensive weapon in a public place - a summary offence that is dealt with immediately, usually resulting in a fine.But in a rare case of imposing a prison term for such an offence, Penrith magistrate Ian McRae said "drastic punishment" was required, and sentenced the man to four months. He said the stiff penalty was needed as a deterrent for such extreme anti-social behaviour. Police told the court the man had been arrested after midnight on Monday with two others, who were carrying iron bars. The men told police they had just come from Cronulla and claimed they had been harassed by a group of people of Middle Eastern appearance. NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the swift sentence sent a strong message to the community. "The message that must go out to people now is that if you go to this type of event and you enjoy a boozy Sunday afternoon and you ... go somewhere else and the police catch you, you may well pay with the loss of four months of liberty," Mr Scipione said. "If that's not a strong message, I don't know what is." NSW Premier Morris Iemma said police were satisfied with the prison term, but Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said the man should have been sent to prison for years. Police Minister Carl Scully said he regretted that many of those arrested over the violence had been freed on bail. He said emergency powers to be granted to police today would mean people accused of the same offences this weekend would have to show they deserved bail. Posted by: ed 2005-12-14 |
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