[AmroodWaala]

A judge in Australia has provoked nationwide outrage after failing to jail nine males who admitted gang raping a ten-year-old-girl.

Kevin Rudd, the new Labor prime minister, said he was "appalled and disgusted", after Sarah Bradley said the victim, who is from an Aboriginal community, "probably agreed" to have sex.


The Cairns-based district court judge gave suspended sentences and probation orders to three adults, aged 17 to 26, one of whom was a repeat sex offender, and six juveniles, aged 14 to 16.

The sentencing has been greeted with disbelief across the country which has been grappling with reports of widespread child sex abuse in indigenous communities.

Some of the girl's attackers are said to be from prominent families in the area, while she comes from a less privileged background.

Queensland's attorney general, Kerry Shine,will appeal against the judge's decision.

The state premier, Anna Bligh, said all sexual offences sentences arising out of Cape York during the past two years would be reviewed.

ITN - Rape victim, 10, 'probably agreed' to sex

Sentencing for indigenous criminals is a delicate matter in Australia because of high suicide rates among jailed aborigines. The Australian newspaper reported Wednesday that Bradley is "well-known in Aboriginal communities for her efforts to keep people out of jail."

At a conference in January, Bradley said indigenous offenders sometimes require "special consideration" because of their over-representation in prisons. Some aboriginals, however, strongly disagree.

"There is nothing culturally, there is nothing morally, there is nothing socially and there is certainly nothing legally that would ever allow this sort of decision to be made," said Bonni Robertson, an aboriginal activist.

"The buck stops there," said Maureen Ah Sam, an aboriginal spokeswoman. "There is no more making excuses."

Sentence review on Aborigine rape - CNN.com

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[sally]

sick, astaghfirullah

[Revert]

thats horrible...

[Skinwalker]

It certainly seems that justice failed this little girl. Was it because she's an aboriginal that this case was treated differently? Can't help but feel the outcome for the perpetrators would have been far different if the victim had been white. I hope the appeal gets through.

[PhDGirl]

How sad

[dezhen]

Yup there was a big outcry here in Sydney about it - I really hope this gets overturned. Many people were calling for the judge to resign and the state government leader called for an investigation in to the last few years of this judges court decisions as well.

I think the fact the girl was aboriginal had something to do with it as the age of consent and so on is basically the same here as in the UK, Europe and the US.

It is disgusting. One can only imagine what she went through.

dawood

[AmroodWaala]

Originally Posted by Skinwalker

It certainly seems that justice failed this little girl. Was it because she's an aboriginal that this case was treated differently? Can't help but feel the outcome for the perpetrators would have been far different if the victim had been white. I hope the appeal gets through.

The perpetrators were aboriginals as well. As the second article mentions, the judge -Sarah Bradley- gives a "special consideration" to indigenous offenders.

The Australian newspaper reported Wednesday that Bradley is "well-known in Aboriginal communities for her efforts to keep people out of jail."

The prosecutor who called the rape "naughty" and "childish experimentation" is suspended.

[Skinwalker]

Originally Posted by AmroodWaala

The perpetrators were aboriginals as well. As the second article mentions, the judge -Sarah Bradley- gives a "special consideration" to indigenous offenders.



The prosecutor who called the rape "naughty" and "childish experimentation" is suspended.

Well that's what I mean. The judge took a different view because the victim was black. Almost as if this was acceptable. If the victim had been white, she wouldn't have been accused of consenting and it wouldndn't have been deemed 'acceptable'.

[MoonStar]

she was also raped before at the age of 7 and the rapists weren't convicted then either

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/wo...iefs-rape.html

Fury Rising Over Lenience in Gang Rape of Aboriginal Girl, 10
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/wo...australia.html
Published: December 13, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia — Mounting anger over the handling of the gang rape of a 10-year-old indigenous girl has pushed the plight of Australia’s Aboriginal minority to the top of the country’s political agenda, leaving the new government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd scrambling for solutions to one of the country’s most intractable problems.

The case has provoked accusations in the news media that there is one law for white Australians and another for Aborigines.

On Wednesday, the newly appointed federal minister for indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, suggested that the federal government might consider intervening in Queensland State, where the crime took place, in the same way the federal government did in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory this year amid concerns about child abuse. Ms. Macklin said she wanted to discuss possible approaches with Anna Bligh, the premier of Queensland.

“It would be very helpful for the two of us to get together as soon as possible to discuss what we have learned from the Northern Territory intervention and what issues might be useful to be implemented in Queensland,” Ms. Macklin told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The rape of the 10-year-old girl, whose name has not been made public, took place in April 2006 in Aurukun, on Cape York, on Australia’s northeastern tip. Nine male Aborigines pleaded guilty, but none have been sent to prison. The three older defendants — ages 17, 18 and 26 at the time of the crime — were given six-month suspended sentences last month. The younger six, whose ages were not made public, were put on probation for 12 months in October.

Noel Pearson, a resident of Cape York and a prominent Aboriginal leader, said he believed that chronic leniency toward offenders had contributed to social breakdown and to the abuse and neglect of children. “This is the tip of a tragic iceberg. It is a problem that has been going on for a long time. It is a problem we have been trying to highlight for a long time,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The case has forced non-Aboriginal Australians to re-examine their relationship with the continent’s original inhabitants. It has given extra impetus to discussions about whether the new government should issue a formal apology for past injustices like the “stolen generation,” Aboriginal children who were taken from their parents, a practice that ended less than 40 years ago.

Mr. Rudd’s Labor government, which has been in power less than two weeks, has promised to overturn the policy of his predecessor, John Howard, who refused to apologize for the treatment of Aborigines, fearing it could prompt claims for compensation.

Aborigines, who make up just under 3 percent of the population of 21 million, are among Australia’s most disadvantaged groups. Their average life expectancy is 17 years less than the national average, according to official figures. They are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated, three times more likely to be unemployed and twice as likely to be a victim of violence or threatened violence, such figures show.

[Jamroll]

They really should take action against the judge for this kind of ruling, and if the judge was constrained by the law then they need to reexamine the laws. Basically heads need to roll on this, it's horrible.

[LEGALEAGLE]

Originally Posted by AmroodWaala

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This is disgusting and sick.



European Australians really need to come to terms with their history of genocide in Australia.

Has anybody read 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' ? or seen the film ? The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Timbit]

Astaghfirullah.
And she's a woman too.

[MossadConspiracy]

thats so messed up

[Skinwalker]

Originally Posted by LEGALEAGLE

This is disgusting and sick.



European Australians really need to come to terms with their history of genocide in Australia.

Has anybody read 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' ? or seen the film ? The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No, but one day I will.