Public figure found guilty of assault

Trunking symbols said :

But you who philosophise disgrace
and criticise all fears
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now is the time for your tears

Bob Dylan

I continue to be astounded by Bob Dylan’s lyrics even after all these years. Can you imagine any of today’s songwriters writing or singing material of such profundity?

But what now?

An ACT public figure has been found guilty of assaulting a teenage girl. The question arises as to their physical/mental capacity and suitability to continue to be on the public payroll.

It is, of course, open to the person concerned to do the right thing and resign.

If a resignation isn’t forthcoming, then the ACT Government must commission an independent review into their misbehaviour, and their capacity and fitness to continue in the office concerned. The public interest demands nothing less.

During the Review, the person concerned must be excused from exercising any function connected with their office. Continued employment of the individual concerned without such a review brings the Government and the employing institution into disrepute, with a consequent loss of public confidence.

It’s got to be Hargreaves – although since he’s about 450 years old I’d be surprised if he has a 17 year old daughter……….

On second thoughts, I bet it’s one of those ‘evil bastards’ from Triathlon ACT! 🙂

Ian said :

So what was so special about this public figure that justifies suppression of his name? or was it his daughter so his identity is suppressed to protect hers?

Almost certainly the daughter – the identities of young people are routinely protected in sensitive cases.

But you who philosophise disgrace
and criticise all fears
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now is the time for your tears

Bob Dylan

It’s better to incure a mild rebuke than perform an onerous task.

Henry Suger

Life was not meant to be easy

Malcom Frazer

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
Donald Rumsfeld

This affair has been a disaster for everyone involved. Like other kids in my class at school I know the background. I think the outcome in court would have been the same regardless of which jurisdiction it occurred in. There is no peculiar ACT flavour about it. I’m sure after all the controversy that had already occurred the visiting Tasmanian magistrate went to great lengths to ensure the outcome was precisely in accordance with the law and no special favours were done for anyone. From my knowledge of the legal system it is not unusual for magistrates to spare a conviction after they take account of all the facts and the unblemished record of the accused. I remember a few years ago a member of the local parliament who was found guilty of drink driving was not convicted because of his previous good record. Many criticised this decision but it was not irregular. It frequently happens to low profile members of the community but the media generally don’t report it.

unfortunately i do know the circumstances and do follow the judicial system which i suppose makes the outcome less surprising.

The tagging on this story is a bit quirky – one tage, one person’s name. On a quick read, one could jump to the conculsion that the “public figure” might be the person named in the tag. We know that’s not the case, but this stuff stays up on the web for a long time.

Mods – is it too forward to suggest that perhaps you might want to rethink the tag on this one?

In the absence of truth lets make something up, otherwise known as a current affairs motto.

I reckon the girl was telling Rudd how if she was the stewardess theres no way she’d take that crap from him.

So what was so special about this public figure that justifies suppression of his name? or was it his daughter so his identity is suppressed to protect hers?

If you google for info about the decision, and the evidence from the victim’s treating professionals, you’ll see that it has been to protect the victim, not the offender. Looks like one very sad family circumstance, so don’t rush to judgment …

“i can’t understand why he got away without a conviction”

You don’t follow the ACT judicial system much, do you?

A myriad of reasons as to why there’s no conviction, doesn’t mean he was acquitted though

You probably don’t understand why he got away without a conviction because you know very little about what happened and the evidence given during the trial, the same as the majority of the rest of us. You may well be right, but making throw away comments like that is rather pointless. To be honest, the information released seemed to make the matter out to be minor.

I would be interested to know who the public figure was though.

Who are we “not” talking about?