Boys walk free over DVD sexual assault of mentally ill girl.

[j_absinthe]

I know I have a habit of posting rather down stories here, but this pisses me off and I know we have some Aussie/NZ Specktra members.

Boys walk free over DVD sex assault
Monday Nov 5 16:24 AEDT
Eight teenage boys who have pleaded guilty over the filming of a 17-year-old girl being sexually assaulted have avoided terms in a youth justice centre.

The girl was filmed performing oral sex on two boys, had her hair set alight, was spat at and urinated on during the incident at a park at Werribee, in Melbourne's outer-west, in June last year.

At a children's court on Monday, a judge ordered all the boys to participate in a program for male adolescents about positive sexuality.

He placed six of the boys on youth supervision orders and all except one youth had convictions recorded against them.

Two of the boys were placed on probation for 12 months.

The judge told the boys they treated the victim in a cruel and callous manner. He described their behaviour as cowardly and brutal and said their offences were a serious breach of the criminal law.

He said that if it was not for their guilty pleas they would have been at "significant risk" of serving time in youth detention.

He said he also took into account they had no prior convictions and their youth.

The eight teenagers - aged between 15 and 17 at the time of offending - pleaded guilty to charges of procuring sexual penetration by intimidation, one of making child pornography and one of assault.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=155021

 

[Ms. Z]

It’s appalling that victims of sexual abuse (especially children) are not protected by the justice system. It’s a shame that a person serves more time and gets more severe punishment for robbery than for harming (mentally/physically) another human being.

 

[SparklingWaves]

Absolutely horrid!

 

[Hilly]

Those punks should have to be forced into doing something sexually degrading with each other and then video taped for everyone to see.

 

[xsnowwhite]

ew WHAT?!
who the hell does that kind of stuff?

 

[SingFrAbsoltion]

Are you fucking kidding me? I remember this incident from last year and they showed bits of the video on the news. It was horrible. And on another forum someone posted links to their myspace pages and all of them wrote shit like "no i'm not sorry and i'd do it again if i could!"

Wow I cannot describe how angry this makes me.

 

[gabi1129]

that is really horrible and it make me very angry. they should have served some time.

 

[SparklingWaves]

SingFrAbsoltion- did they show the identities of the perpetrators?

 

[kyashi]

i remember seeing this a while back .. and they only just got sentenced ? its situations like this that robs the meaning of justice in our justice system .. those boys should have at least received jail terms .. just bcos they pleaded guilty it does not mean they show remorse .. this just sends the msg to others that its ok if you plead guilty .. and its not .. the ineffectiveness of our legal system disappoints me !

 

[SingFrAbsoltion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparklingWaves SingFrAbsoltion- did they show the identities of the perpetrators?

yea they were their actual pages. the person who posted them found them all somehow

 

[SparklingWaves]

The newsletter made it appear that their identities were protected. I didn't think that was right. That poor girl's identity was on that dvd and passed around in the community and in court for people to view. I didn't know what the law was there, but I do see minors pictures posted sometimes and sometimes they don't for crimes.

I believe you. They went out to destroy that girl. The details in the case are extremely sadistic.

 

[nunu]

oh my god that is absolutely appaling! im speechless. It really hurts reading about the world we live in. I feel very sorry for the girl.

 

[SingFrAbsoltion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparklingWaves The newsletter made it appear that their identities were protected. I didn't think that was right. That poor girl's identity was on that dvd and passed around in the community and in court for people to view. I didn't know what the law was there, but I do see minors pictures posted sometimes and sometimes they don't for crimes. I believe you. They went out to destroy that girl. The details in the case are extremely sadistic.

Well they were in the video too so I guess that's how people knew..and it was even more sad seeing people defend them! Their moron friends commented about how they support them and hope that they can get out of it. I don't understand how people can be this horrible.

 

[SparklingWaves]

I don't know how anyone could defend evil.

 

[lipstickandhate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparklingWaves I don't know how anyone could defend evil.

Everyone hates on defense attorneys until they need one. Its an ethical obligation to vigorously represent your client, regardless of your personal feelings on the matter or the client.

That's why our adversarial system works.

People support their friends and family even when they do horrific things. I think it's part of being human and not something I totally understand.

 

[lipstickandhate]

I'd like to point out the reactions on this thread to crimes committed by juveniles v. the reactions to the crimes committed by the juveniles in the Jena 6 thread. Why the huge differences?

 

[SparklingWaves]

Where was the topic discussed of legal counsel mentioned in the comment that I was referring to? Maybe, I need some hot tea.

(sipping)

Okay, I "think" you were thinking I meant that no one with a broad brush could defend this type of evil - including legal counsel?? No, I was not talking about the eight boys legal counsel. I will clarify. I was commenting on the statement directly above my comment in relation to the perps "friends". (Sorry, if you took it that way).

No, I would not support someone who did something like this. There is no question of what they did here.

 

[wolfsong]

I don’t agree that it shouldn’t be the same in a perfect world, but it can be seen as different for the following reasons:
- The girl was in a vulnerable state.
- A girl against a group of boys is usually different to a boy against a group of boys. As much as people want to wave the feminist flag, women are predominantly weaker physically than men, and I think that the fear of gang rape (and possibly murder/manslaughter) would be a lot more apparent in a woman in that situation than a man.
- Arguably there was 'motive' with the Jena 6 case - this doesn’t in any way excuse what happened, just that there seemed to be a logical link to why it happened. This one seems to be just a random sick act with no motive (though please correct me if I’m wrong).
- There was sexual abuse - which is typically more humiliating and scarring (to either gender) than an act of physical violence. There was also degrading acts that can come under the term torture. Though beating someone to the point of needing medical assistance could also come under this term.
- It was documented on tape, which adds to the humiliation as well as there being the fact that the girl has to live with the reality that there is visual evidence of what happened in the world somewhere – and that many people have now seen it. It would be hard to find peace of mind with worrying about whether people have seen it, whether a copy will surface etc.

Both acts to me are terrible, but a woman being sexually assaulted and demeaned in this obviously sadistic manner shocks me more than a man getting beaten up. Essentially the case of the girl holds more ghastly details than the Jena 6 one, so promotes a bigger ‘OMG’ response – the Jena 6 case being truly shocking only when you read more into it.

 

[SparklingWaves]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lipstickandhate I'd like to point out the reactions on this thread to crimes committed by juveniles v. the reactions to the crimes committed by the juveniles in the Jena 6 thread. Why the huge differences?

I am not sure that I understand the nature of your question. Please explain further.

 

[Beauty Mark]

Though they plead guilty (doesn't mean they necessarily perceive themselves as guilty), they should've received a much harsher sentence