 ROWE FAMILYS ATTACKERS WALK FREE |
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By: king_bast
19/06/2009
5:10 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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Three teenagers involved in a Christmas Day 2007 brawl that critically injured a doctor will not go to jail after receiving suspended sentences.
Doctor Luke Neil, who has a titanium plate in his jaw as a result of the attack, received his injuries in the same brawl that claimed the life of Yalgoo farmer Bill Rowe.
On the day of the attack, Dr Neil had earlier announced his engagement to Mr Rowe's daughter Violet.
The youths – now aged 15, 16 and 18 – were sentenced in Perth Children’s Court today after they pleaded guilty to one charge each of doing an act with intent to harm or which was likely to endanger life, health or safety.
The 18-year-old was given a one year sentence suspended for a year and will undergo counselling for anger management issues.
The other two youths were given a conditional release order for 12 months and face juvenile detention if they re-offend within that period.
They will also receive counselling for anger management and substance abuse.
All three said they accepted a challenge by Dr Neil to turn their lives around.
“I ask one thing of you: make this event a turning point in your life. I challenge you to take a righteous path for your future,†Dr Neil said yesterday in court.
He told the court yesterday he could not comprehend the viciousness of the three youths.
The court heard that one of the youths had struck Dr Neil with a wooden stick, while another had thrown a full beer bottle that struck him in the head.
The court heard that Dr Neil had since quit his two jobs in Geraldton and that he and his wife Violet had not felt safe in the town since the attack
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There's not many crimes that sickened me more than this one. Now I feel it all over again when I found out these thugs get off scot free. Dunno about law and order in this state! |
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By: jaykaye_09
19/06/2009
7:01 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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'Dunno about law and order in this state!'
-king_bast
That's why you study it. That, and the case itself.
No thinking person should formulate an opinion on the basis of a news article alone. |
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By: king_bast
19/06/2009
7:17 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| erm...this news article is not the only thing I've heard about it you know. |
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By: jaykaye_09
19/06/2009
7:25 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| Fair enough (my apologies). What was the judges reasoning behind the sentence? |
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By: peaceleo69
20/06/2009
12:40 am Yahoo! Profile:
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he said the boys had not been in trouble before (Maybe not caught!)-had been caught up in the moment and influenced by older people and were unlikely to reoffend.
And they had a chance to turn thier life around-shame they had already turned Dr Niells life around!
He has no chance of rehabilitation!
Dr Neil is to recieve an account of their progress at +mas.
Dr Neil said there was no compassion for victims-it all seemd to be about the offenders. |
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By: peaceleo69
20/06/2009
12:44 am Yahoo! Profile:
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http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,2565 9209-2761,00.html
Three Geraldton teenagers freed on suspended jail sentences
Todd Cardy, court reporter
June 19, 2009 11:00am
THREE Geraldton teenagers have walked free from court with suspended sentences over the bashing of a man during a fatal Christmas Day brawl.
Children’s Court President Denis Reynolds today sentenced the three boys, who are aged 15, 16, and 18 and cannot be identified, over the attack on Luke Neil during the 2007 Christmas Day brawl that killed Yalgoo farmer Bill Rowe.
All three had pleaded guilty to doing an act of harm.
Two of the boys threw beer bottles at Dr Neil and another hit him on the head from behind with a plank of wood.
Judge Reynolds sentenced the eldest teenager, who faced a maximum of 20 years in an adult jail, to one year imprisonment suspended for one year on the condition he not reoffend, undertake anger management counselling and continue to study.
The two younger boys were spared detention and ordered to abide by similar conditions on a one year conditional release order.
Prosecutor Sean Stocks did not seek immediate jail time for the teenagers.
Each of them told Judge Reynolds they wanted to never commit another act of violence again.
``Give us a second opportunity to change our lives and (we will) hopefully make the best of them,’’ the 18-year-old told the court.
Dr Neil, who had proposed to Mr Rowe's daughter, Violet, on the same day, suffered a broken jaw, ripped ear, cuts, bruising and scarring to his head, face and upper body.
Outside court, Dr Neil said aside from the obvious physical injuries he suffered, the attack had caused massive psychological trauma.
He said the 18-month wait for the case to come to court - which had been put down to the Supreme Court sentencing of the man who killed Mr Rowe with a cricket bat - had taken its toll.
``The court processes are so long and drawn out and they take no acc ... |
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By: peaceleo69
20/06/2009
12:45 am Yahoo! Profile:
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of the victim’s pain - basically there is no humanity in law, is what we have discovered,’’ Dr Neil said.
``By allowing violent offenders back into the community, it is basically allowing violence to possibly continue forever because they are going back to where the violence was created and installed in them in the first place.
``Parents and guardians of children need to take the responsibility back.
``They’ve got to take responsibility for their children, they have to educate their children in a manner that is going to instil respect for their elders, respect for their community, respect for emergency services and most of all respect for themselves.’’
During the fight between the two families, which was sparked by the theft of drinks from the Rowe family's portable cooler, father-of-five Mr Rowe, 49, was killed when he wa *** with a cricket bat by Mathew Roy McDonald, 22, who has since been jailed for five years for manslaughter.
Judge Reynolds said the boys’ attack on Dr Neil was ``an aberration’’ - a once off - and jail for them, who he described as young and naive, would have been a ``backward step''.
He said their crimes had been as a result of a ``misguided loyalty’’ to family members some of whom were ``fired-up’’ and ``fuelled by alcohol’’.
``You usually don’t do this sort of stuff but because your family had this get together and because there were people in this group that don’t have the right ideas, you got sucked in,’’ he told the court.
Judge Reynolds also ordered all three to submit a report card by the end of the year on their progress in study and football to Corrective Services which would be passed to Dr Neil so he could track their progress.
After the hearing, one of the boys’ aunts said the sentence was ``fair’’. |
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By: peaceleo69
20/06/2009
12:49 am Yahoo! Profile:
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http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,2565 4758-2761,00.html
Geraldton beach bash victim urges: 'Take responsiblity'
Todd Cardy, court reporter
June 18, 2009 12:00pm
A MAN bashed in a Geraldton beach brawl that killed Yalgoo farmer Bill Rowe has challenged his attackers to be "good people" and walk away from crime.
Dr Luke Neil today read a powerful victim impact statement to the Perth Children's Court during the sentencing hearing of three male teenagers who have pleaded guilty to each doing acts of harm at Geraldton's Sunset beach on Christmas Day, 2007.
The court heard the teenagers, now aged 15, 16 and 18 who cannot be named because they were juveniles at the time, attacked Dr Neil with beer bottles and a plank of wood during the violent brawl.
Dr Neil, who had proposed to Mr Rowe's daughter, Violet, on the same day, suffered a broken jaw, ripped ear, cuts, bruising and scarring to his head, face and upper body.
During the fight between the two families, which was sparked by the theft of drinks from the Rowe family's portable cooler, father-of-five Mr Rowe, 49, was killed when he wa *** with a cricket bat by Mathew Roy McDonald, 22, who has since been jailed for five years for manslaughter.
Dr Neil said he now feared walking in public, he didn’t feel safe in his home and he was at a loss to explain why such acts of violence had been committed against him.
``I cannot comprehend why three young people would want to attack someone to the point where they could possibly die,’’ Dr Neil told the court.
``And I cannot comprehend such hatred to other humans. I ask one thing of you: that is to make this event the turning point in your life.
"Make this the last time you commit an act of violence. You three have to take the responsibility on yourselves to make the decisions to be good people.
``I challenge you to go and take a copy of this statement and keep it. I challenge you to take the righteous path for your fu ... |
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By: peaceleo69
20/06/2009
12:49 am Yahoo! Profile:
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Defence lawyer Peter Collins, acting for the eldest teenager who hit Dr Neil with the wood plank, told the court his client did not incite or encourage the brawl but had acted after seeing his father ``mobbed’’ by other men.
Mr Collins said the teenager was ``stone cold sober’’ and before acting out he had been punched in the head and held under water.
``The decision to use the wood was spontaneous…(he) did what he did to protect his father,’’ he said.
Mr Collins said he had been a student of the Clontarf Foundation, which helps train and educate young indigenous men, and was a talented footballer who ``lives and breathes’’ the sport.
He said he had no criminal history, had not offended since the brawl and deserved a suspended jail sentence.
The sentencing hearing continues. |
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By: pol_pak
29/06/2009
11:55 am Yahoo! Profile:
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Credit to Doctor Luke Neil, for his encouragement towards them learning/reforming and not re-offend, as it does reflect our growing understanding of difficulties facing young adults generally, men in particular.
Might such good behavior periods help more to them if were for longer, perhaps until their age= 25 ?
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ROWE FAMILYS ATTACKERS WALK FREE |
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