Racist Verdict
I see I’m not the only one who thinks that the sentencing of the “exorcist” killers of Janet Moses was far too lenient.
“Prominent defence lawyer Barry Hart, who was not involved in the case, said the sentences seemed too lenient and liberal.
““It’s doesn’t matter how you look at it, the sentences are really light. It’s hard to get comparative cases however, it was manslaughter, it wasn’t some lesser charge like failing to provide the necessities of life. A life was lost.””
Hart attributes this light sentencing to liberal politically correct views.
I just think it is naked racism.
Not in the same sense as Trevor Mallard who rightly points out that, if this was a pakeha exorcism, the guilty would have received a prison sentence of some kind. In the sense that an absurdly lenient sentence here is intensely paternalistic. It is saying, in effect, that Maori are just credulous and superstitious natives and little can be expected from them.
I thought we had come past that, but apparently not.
Additional
And that’s it for global warming. I’ve just agreed with Trevor Mallard about something. Hell has frozen over.
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- Mallard on Maori and manslaughter | Kiwiblog — [...] MacDoctor notes that even defence lawyer Barry Hart has said the sentences are too lenient. MacDoctor says the sentence ...
Aug 15 09 5:55 pm
I’m of two minds about the sentence. Motivations aside, there is some scale of issue to do with intent, and inadvertently going too far.
At the bottom end of this scale is the family failing to secure the gate to a swimming pool, or checking when backing out of a drive, and the result is the death of a toddler. They can be guilty of manslaughter, but punishment would generally be pointless.
Further up the scale, this case.
Like the first situation, I’m not sure justice would be served by imprisonment. The court process and the impact on what they have done has probably hit home very hard. Perhaps it’s more like a case of infanticide, where the maximum sentence is 3 years I think, but the judge may apply leniency. In that regard, maybe the decision isn’t entirely racist, because it’s about the appropriateness of imprisonment, not the reason that got them there.
On the other hand, if it had been a Catholic Priest in the dock (as unlikely as it is), I bet it would have been life.
I did put some spin on this story myself, from the point of view of using it as a precedent
Clayton Weatherston Appeals
.-= ZenTiger´s last blog ..Clayton Weatherston Appeals =-.
I found your satire uncomfortably near the truth, where all good satire should be.
Aug 16 09 2:04 am
Liberal politically correct views could in part be a good call for the leniency of the verdict – since when did primitive beliefs in such things as possession or curses become beyond questioning? I’m very surprised that no one in the media has asked questions like what is the validity of believing in such things as curses in today’s modern society, instead the nearest we get to criticism is that the family didn’t do the ceremony properly or didn’t use the right person and we end up the courts pretty much condoning the spiritually imposed equivalent of waterboarding, with the end result someone died. This whole thing is bizarre, I think the worst part is that there was probably a point when before the whole thing went too far when they could have called a stop on it, but none of the 40 or so people that witnessed did.
Aug 16 09 9:07 am
Not racism but two other types of madness.
The first madness is New Age type stuff where the proponent’s eyes pop when he’s espousing it, Makutu comes into this category.
The second is traditional religion at the fringes, such as no blood transfusions and healing by prayer alone. This isn’t the stuff of whites of the eyes.
At court and in the first case, the eye poppers are treated with the respect due the truly mad and ignorant, but the second group are treated with the contempt and anger reserved for those who pervert Christianity. The judge assumes his role of Defender of the Faith and sends this lot to jail because “They should have known better”.. regardless of race.
Thats not too surprising because at home the judge has a wife whose coffee table is stacked with womens magazines that promote Astrology, Tantric Yoga and health tips that are light on doctors’ recommendations and high on the efficacy of Ginseng and garlic and various Oriental remedies.. he’s already well disposed to the eye poppers.
JC
Aug 18 09 11:40 am
I’m sorry but these people tortured Janet Moses until she died and nobody present tried to stop it. This is 2009 and we do not live in a third world country and this sort of thing should not be condoned – and the sentence handed down condoned the behaviour of all present – it is political correctness gone mad.