The totally off-topic thread

[Buzzard]

What sort of a justice system do we have when you can kill somebody and be virtually let off but comit fraud/steal from your employer say $100,000 and end up sans job and behind bars :evil:

 

[amaroo]

What sort of a justice system do we have when you can kill somebody and be virtually let off but comit fraud/steal from your employer say $100,000 and end up sans job and behind bars :evil:

Hopefully one that takes into account the intent of the crime/act.

Also influenced by the quality of ones legal counsel......the family of the young lady in question run a substantial business therefore, probably able to afford natural justice

The whole thing looks underdone and very leveraged in favour of the young lass.

 

[a330j]

The only real "problem" that may have possibly contributed to mitigating her (Hopper) circumstances was that the two people were walking on a dirt road. Depending on how they were walking down the road may mean something. I'm not saying this is plausible or what not, but thinking as lawyers do, they will always be arguing it down to the detail to not only prima facie establish guilt or not, but to the exact extent as to what that guilt is, on both sides of the argument.

Beerburrum Rd is not dirt. It is two way bitumen with grass shoulders. Speed limit varies between 80-100kmh depending on which section. Hard to talk about mitigating circumstances when, according to the article, she admitted what she did to the police. Perhaps her owning up to it played a part.

I'm no lawyer and maybe a lawyer can answer this, but why wouldn't this case have been heard in the Caboolture Magistrates Court (around 20 minutes from the furthest reaches of Beerburrum Rd) rather than the Brisbane District Court. If its a jurisdictional issue fair enough.

 

[drron]

There is also Beerburrum road Caloundra.also not gravel and 50-60 limit.

 

[a330j]

There is also Beerburrum road Caloundra.also not gravel and 50-60 limit.

Didn't know that. The article mentioned the incident took place near Elimbah which is what I was describing.

 

[penegal]

... why wouldn't this case have been heard in the Caboolture Magistrates Court (around 20 minutes from the furthest reaches of Beerburrum Rd) rather than the Brisbane District Court. If its a jurisdictional issue fair enough.

I am not particularly familiar with Queensland, but the matter probably had to be in the district court due to the severity of the charges. The article doesn't make it clear exactly what she was charged with, but given a death was involved you generally expect the matter to make it to at least the county/district court.

 

[markis10]

I am not particularly familiar with Queensland, but the matter probably had to be in the district court due to the severity of the charges. The article doesn't make it clear exactly what she was charged with, but given a death was involved you generally expect the matter to make it to at least the county/district court.

A magistrates court hears all cases initially but can only rule when its a summary offence, referring other cases to higher courts.

 

[penegal]

A magistrates court hears all cases initially but can only rule when its a summary offence, referring other cases to higher courts.

Indeed, you are correct. The committal mention would have been heard in a magistrates court (usually the closest court to the site of the offence / police station who filed charges, however parties can request that the matter be heard in a different court (location)).

Given there was a death, she would have been charged with one or more indictable offences (e.g. not a summary offence), therefore you would expect the matter to be referred to a higher court (or thrown out).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Question to anyone that knows:

We know there are various things that you can't discriminate over when deciding on who is successful in applying for a job (or denying those applying for a job). For example, race, gender (unless inherent), sexual orientation, etc.

Is it wrong to deny a job (or pass favour to someone else for a job) for someone you may hold a prejudice against due to their alleged or apparent criminal history? In the latter case, let's say the woman we are discussing in the current sub-thread applied for a job. All other things being relatively equal, as an employer would there be rights to say, "We will select that candidate (not the woman) because we know she was involved in a car accident (based on what we heard in the media)?" Or, would the woman have a recourse to litigate based on discrimination or prejudice?

(Put aside the apparent or real superficiality of this example for now...)

I guess a similar thing holds for, say, teachers who were accused of sexual misbehaviour but were later fully exonerated (e.g. there have been cases where it was proven that the students who made the accusations had completely fabricated the accusations). However, it seems they are doomed not to be able to get another job as a teacher, and other jobs for that matter.

unfortunately discrimination is very easy - even for something that squarely falls within the legislation.

if a company (or accommodation provider etc etc) doesn't want to hire a woman/black/homosexual or catholic all they need to say is that 'candidate x is felt to be a better fit with the company than candidate y'.

unless the company admits the real reason for denying an offer (and in the absence of recorded evidence during consideration of applications) it can be very hard to prove the real reason why a person didn't get the job.

If for example you had a candidate who you had read negative reports in the press - you could get around that by saying 'the candidate lives 15 minutes further away from work than our preferred applicant'.

 

[medhead]

The road death toll stays relatively the same. It just makes the whole speeding thing a joke. Speed kills, but the road toll doesn't decrease with the speed limit being dropped to 50.

As for the justice system. As we found out drink driving is ok with the right character.

 

[Happy Trails]

A suspended sentence seems par for the course.
I recall this case from when I was in Geelong:

Text-message driver who killed cyclist goes free
A Geelong driver who killed a cyclist while sending a text message ran free from court yesterday after being given a two-year suspended prison term

Text-message driver who killed cyclist goes free - www.theage.com.au

 

[erkpod]

Further to the pic I posted from yesterday afternoon's storm, I found out this afternoon that one of my colleagues in the overturned portable building ended up with broken ribs.

Not surprising when a fridge lands on you after the room spins...

 

[anat0l]

A suspended sentence seems par for the course.
I recall this case from when I was in Geelong:

Text-message driver who killed cyclist goes free
A Geelong driver who killed a cyclist while sending a text message ran free from court yesterday after being given a two-year suspended prison term

Text-message driver who killed cyclist goes free - www.theage.com.au

The amazing and noble stance taken by the victim's family in this case is interesting.

Had a similar statement been made in the case being discussed, that may also have contributed to the sentence handed down. I wouldn't certainly argue that this deprives the victim's party from arguing for imprisonment, however.

Some would argue that the guilty will have to live the rest of their lives knowing they have killed someone. That alone seems to be believed to be a heavy toll and should be considered as part of the composition of the sentence / punishment. I'm far more dubious of believing the validity of that.

 

[anat0l]

Further to the pic I posted from yesterday afternoon's storm, I found out this afternoon that one of my colleagues in the overturned portable building ended up with broken ribs.

Not surprising when a fridge lands on you after the room spins...

Hope he's otherwise OK. I wouldn't have given any odds to anyone inside that flipping portable to be alive, let alone survive without substantial paralysis.

 

[drron]

Many years ago our neighbours daughter was killed by a drunk driver.As the family were so distraught it fell to me to identify their daughter.I know at first hand the effect it has on the family.A suspended sentence is a joke and certainly does not help the victim's family.

 

[erkpod]

A friend of mine just asked for travel advice. Too bad she picked 2 places I've never been to before & aren't on my radar - Bali or Fiji.

Added complication - it would be a family holiday with a 2 yr old boy.

 

[jetlagger]

I am not particularly familiar with Queensland, .

For better or worse, it is still like the 'Wild West" here in QLD. at times.
Same country, random & unbeknown very differing attitudes & decision makers.

 

[erkpod]

Hope he's otherwise OK. I wouldn't have given any odds to anyone inside that flipping portable to be alive, let alone survive without substantial paralysis.

I read on the intranet tonight that everyone in the room had minor injuries. I would not call broken ribs a minor injury.

Wrong place wrong time but 6 lucky people!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The road death toll stays relatively the same. It just makes the whole speeding thing a joke. Speed kills, but the road toll doesn't decrease with the speed limit being dropped to 50.

the numbers are raw numbers - not adjusted.

the population increases and there are more cars on the road. But the toll stays the same or drops.

i think that shows how effective lower speeds are.

what is not often reported is the significant reduction in the number and severity of (serious) injuries. lower speeds = less serious injuries.

speed does kill. you hit a pedestrian at 60 or you hit them at 30 and it means the difference between life and death. The difference? speed.

 

[Hvr]

Doesn't there need to be an acknowledgement of the increases in medical care which saves the lives of many people who would previously have died in what today would be considered minor collisions?

Ambulance care has gone from scoop and dump to high level care and they now take people to hospital who previously would've died in the car.

Without counting all of these factors it is very easy to ascribe a change to your favoured cause rather than the actual reason which is often many different things which combine to decrease the death count.