What the judge said

[Gob]

I am not going to say this is your last chance, but chances do not come very often. You really have to be sensible about these things and you will not be taken into custody if you do the right thing. There is no reason for you to fear the police if you do the right thing and even if the police overstep the mark for some reason and sometimes they do inadvertently, then you will come back to court and the court will deal with you fairly.

That fairness can mean that you go back to jail in certain circumstances, but as you now know, you have put the community at risk when you commit offences and that means having allegations of committing further offences, getting into cars which are not yours and driving when you should not be driving and so on.

I think you are making some progress. There is a long way to go. If you can work with this agency, Weigelli, then that might give you some possibility of going further, but my patience is not inexhaustible and what Mr Williamson says is right, I have got to protect the community and if you are going to abuse the trust that you have got, then I will have to protect the community and I will do so. At the moment I do not see that the community is at special risk, but that is dependent entirely upon your ability to do the right thing and I hope you can do so.

The result;

A woman has died and another injured after being hit by a vehicle while crossing the road outside The Canberra Hospital this afternoon (Thursday, May 3).

The vehicle, a red Toyota Camry station wagon, had been called in to ACT Policing Operations earlier by an off duty AFP member after the vehicle was seen driving erratically and collided with another vehicle in Hughes.

The vehicle fled the scene and was spotted by a Woden patrol crew on Yamba Drive, running a red light and hitting pedestrians who were crossing the intersection at Bateson Road at around 4.45pm.

One woman has died at the scene. The other woman sustained injuries and is in a stable condition at The Canberra Hospital.

The 24-year-old driver was apprehended by police and taken to The Canberra Hospital where he is assisting police with enquiries.

Yamba Drive is blocked between Kitchener Street and Hindmarsh Drive in Woden, and is expected to be closed for some time. ACT Policing’s Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team are on scene.

This is the second person to die on ACT roads this year and the second in a week.

Anyone who witnessed the collision and is yet to speak to police is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.

The 24-year-old, who has an extensive criminal history, was on bail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon, specifically a machete.

He had entered pleas of not guilty to the allegations.

Monfries has been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, and at a bail application earlier this year told the court through his lawyer he was terrified of being returned to prison.

On Facebook there is a Justin Monfries revelling in the userid of “evilkid666″.

The ABC has named the victims as the “killed Linda Cox, 38, who worked in the hospital’s cardiology department and seriously injured Ashlee Bumpus, 25

[dales]

Monfries has been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, and at a bail application earlier this year told the court through his lawyer he was terrified of being returned to prison.

Yes, difficulty with social cues could be disadvantageous behind bars.

[Andrew D]

Who or what is "Weigelli"?

If you can work with this agency, Weigelli, then that might give you some possibility of going further, but my patience is not inexhaustible and what Mr Williamson says is right, I have got to protect the community and if you are going to abuse the trust that you have got, then I will have to protect the community and I will do so.

Monfries has been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, and at a bail application earlier this year told the court through his lawyer he was terrified of being returned to prison.

What, if any is the connection between "Weigelli" and "Monfries"?

[BoSoxGal]

Judging is a lonely job; the Judge must balance the legislative provisions for punishment v. those for rehabilitation, weighed against what s/he knows of the individual before the Court and his/her prospects to be successful on community supervision.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys struggle with the same issues when negotiating resolutions to cases, but ultimately the final decision rests with the Court, which is why Judges have lonely jobs.

It's easy for the rest of society to engage in Monday morning quarterbacking, hindsight is always 20/20, etc. For every guy like this, there are ten or more who are successful on community supervision, thus saving society the cost of incarceration, and often adding to the collective coffers by being law-abiding tax-paying citizens.

One thing I know for certain: the Judge wasn't in the passenger seat encouraging his actions. He chose those actions all on his own. What happened isn't the Judge's fault, or his mother's fault, or anybody's fault but his. He exercised his free will such that it resulted in taking a human life; nobody made him do that.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm with Andrew D here - what is the connection between the two stories? They appear to be about two different criminal berks

dgs92 tells me that "Weigelli" is an abo name but he only uses the term as a pun - or a palindrome - but not anything to do with race at all

Meade

[BoSoxGal]

I made the assumption that the individual being sentenced in the first excerpt was the one causing the death in the second.

Gob, it would be nice if you would link to sources when you start such threads.

I'm still waiting for the link to sources on "what he said to the copper".

I'm not really sure the point of these threads, unless to provoke discussion about the criminal justice system, which discussion is very limited when we don't have the full text to refer to in forming our opinions.

[Gob]

What, if any is the connection between "Weigelli" and "Monfries"?

If you can work with this agency, Weigelli,

[BoSoxGal]

Too freaking cool! How'd you go that "let me Google that for you" trick?!?

[alice]

...
One thing I know for certain: the Judge wasn't in the passenger seat encouraging his actions. He chose those actions all on his own. What happened isn't the Judge's fault, or his mother's fault, or anybody's fault but his. He exercised his free will such that it resulted in taking a human life; nobody made him do that.

Personal responsibility - one of my 'hobby horses'. Along with the 'entitlement mentality'.

Luckily for all I don't have time to add more right now ( ) - but just wanted to applaud this sentiment.

[Gob]

Too freaking cool! How'd you go that "let me Google that for you" trick?!?

Here you go.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Damn - dgs69 was right after all! If inelegantly phrased!

Looked at the link but still don't really find where Monfries is identified as the bloke the judge spoke to beforehand. I see he was "out on bail" at the time of the subsequent accident. I prolly just mist it

Meade

[rubato]

This is just one case.

Does the judge have a track record?

One can avoid all such crticism by throwing the book at everyone or using determinate sentencing. Both
avoid all use of human judgement.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Andrew D]

Thanks, Gob! That here's how you can dig up the meanings of internationally obscure terms which I couldn't be bothered to explain in the first place link is way cool!

[Gob]

This is just one case.

Does the judge have a track record?

Unfortunately yes.

[Gob]

The Canberra Times has the concering news that recidivist and deadly disqualified driver Amber Jane Westin is back on our streets (one hopes not the roads but she has form) after Justice Richard Refshauge overturned her four month sentence for breaching her decade long driving ban.

Westin appealed against the severity of her sentence to the Supreme Court, with her legal team arguing that Magistrate Grant Lalor had imposed an excessive jail term.

This morning Justice Richard Refshauge upheld the appeal, finding Westin’s breach of the driving ban was contumacious but did not merit the four-month prison sentence.

He resentenced Westin to six weeks’ jail, backdated to January 12, and released her immediately.

[BoSoxGal]

This morning Justice Richard Refshauge upheld the appeal, finding Westin’s breach of the driving ban was contumacious but did not merit the four-month prison sentence.

I'm impressed if the judge actually used that word, moreso that the news writer utilized it also.

But perhaps such highfalutin language is what keeps the young offender from understanding the Court's frustration with her?

[Andrew D]

Or maybe the judge was just using the relevant statutory language?

[Gob]

Recently Rebecca Massey breached bail by continuing a contact relationship with one of the Crown witnesses against her, in violation of the already “very strict bail conditions” put forward in her Second Bail Judgement, when the Court originally granted bail as a human rights concern.

In order to prevent Rebecca Massey from having her human rights interfered with through a lengthy detention awaiting trial, due to an inefficient court system and tardy DPP, Ms Massey’s bail was granted by Justice Penfold.

Reading through the court records, this bail was granted despite Rebecca Massey having “a lengthy criminal record” and a “record for answering bail [conditions which] has not been good in the past” (as noted by Justice Richard Refshauge in Section 53 and 54 of her First Bail Judgement, when bail was originally denied), and Justice Hilary Penfold herself “not plac[ing] substantial reliance on Ms Massey” (Section 55, Second Bail Judgement), as she was being charged with “the most serious [crime] in the criminal calendar” (Section 31 of the First Bail Judgement), and Ms Massey “not giving [Justice Penfold] cause for particular optimism as to her ability to refrain from committing any offence at all” (Section 56 of the Second Bail Judgement), and investigating police officers raising “concerns that Ms Massey might try to interfere with witnesses” (Section 57 of Second Bail Judgement).

In fact, “despite severe reservations” from Justice Refshauge, and this most recent “breach substantially undermin[ing] her credibility as a candidate for bail, both because of the flagrant nature of it, but also because it clearly had, as she knew, a capacity to interfere with the integrity of the criminal justice system”, Justice Refshauge has granted Rebecca Massey bail once again, this time under even more lenient conditions.

Ms Massey is now free to interfere with at least one of the Crown’s witnesses against her, as much as she likes, up until the trial.

[Gob]

With regard to the above, this is worth noting:

A Canberra woman has been found guilty of the murder of 43-year old Elizabeth Booshand outside a Charnwood store in Canberra's north in 2008.

It is the ACT's first murder conviction by a jury in more than a decade.

[rubato]

So out of 100 cases how many are too lenient and how many too harsh?

In the opening case if he had sentenced the young man to the max, would that have prevented him from doing the same thing anyway?

Yrs
Rubato