‘Light’ sentence overturned.

Judge Ian Wylie in the news again
A JUDGE who restructured a jail sentence for a Samoan man after he molested an eight-year-old girl has had his decision overturned by the Attorney-General.
In sentencing the man last month, Brisbane Supreme Court judge Ian Wylie, QC, said if the man, 35, was jailed for 12 months or more he could be deported at the end of his sentence.
The man, who cannot be named, was caught touching and licking the girl’s genitals at a friend’s house in May 2004.
So he promptly awarded him 11 months and three weeks jail. Wylie seems to have some sympathy for child molestors that is definitely out of step with society. In another case he jailed a priest for 3 and a half years after the man was found guilty 34 counts of indecent dealing with girls aged six to 12. Wylie calimed the man had been rehabiltated and hadn’t offended for a long time. Other cases;
A QUEENSLAND judge has ordered a man’s criminal conviction for the carnal knowledge of an underage girl not be recorded so he can join the police force.
The girls was 13 and the judge was Wylie.
A judge has been criticised for “unacceptable indulgence” after allowing a motorist who killed an elderly woman to walk free because he was a sole parent.
The woman was 82 and yep, the judge was Wylie.
She’s drunk…he pinches her bum…they have words…he throws a glass of water in her face…she gouges out his eye with a broken beer glass. He loses 50% of his vision and the judge gives her a suspended sentence.
Wylie again. QUeensland Attorney-Generals must have a weekly briefing on “what Wylie has done this week” and I wonder why he is still on the bench. Is there no mechanism to ensure Judges stay in tune with the society they are representing?

15 comments

  • Kev, short of Parliament sacking the turkey, he has a job for life (70)!

  • youcancallmemeyer

    I agree that the man is unfit to be on the Bench but I’m not so sure his sentence in the carnal knowledge case was way off the mark.

    I have a daughter just turned 14 and she has a boyfriend just turned 17. I remember when I was 17 and from what I remember I was about 14 at the time.

    Naturally, I watch them like a hawk but if something happened I wouldn’t want the kid’s blood.

    It is rare that a carnal knowledge case gets near Court where the boy is close in age to the girl and it is usually when the girl gets pregnant and her parents kick up a fuss. If he’d been 25 he’s a pedo but he’s a kid too.

    Don’t you remember when you were 17 Kev?

  • youcancallmemeyer

    Sorry to go on but if the girl had been 17 and the boy had been 13 do you think the girl should have been charged and given a gaol sentence?

  • I had actually thought about the question before you asked it…where was I when I was 17, or, would I have tried to have sex with a 13 year old girl.

    No way. At high school, as I recall about one year younger was all we could get away with… peer group pressure would frown on a four year gap. At 17, a 13 year old simply wouldn’t have registered with me. Note: at high achool I’m only talking about trying to score, not actually doing it…different generation I guess. By the time I was 17 I was in the Army and trying to make out with 20 year olds.

    On your second comment…No, and like you say I’m surprised it got to court but it did. Charges have been laid and the Judge has to address them.

    My point is not age or carnal knowledge; it is the fact that the judge chose not to record a conviction based on the boy wanting a career in the police force.

    There is now a precedence in the state of Queensland.

    Quick, says the lawyer, say you want to be a policeman, teacher, public servant, military officer (or any career that demands a clean sheet for entry)and you’re away free.

    The law exists because most of the society believe that children deserve a childhood. With one slip that girl would be pregnant..a mother and a high school dropout at 14….bye bye childhood…grow up NOW

    Frightening.

  • Judicial appointments shouldn’t be permanent. Judges should have limited terms of office, and reappointment should not be automatic.

    Also, the current system of “contempt of court” rulings for criticising court decisions should be abandoned.

  • Well when I was 14, I was in a relationship with a 17 yr old, and I’d have to agree with Kev that there was a strong peer pressure against a difference that big. In the end I didn’t tell anyone at school that I even had a girlfriend until I showed up with her at the school dance when I was 17.

    While in general I’d say I’m not a huge fan of mandatory sentencing laws that give a Judge no leeway in sentencing in cases where there hasn’t really been a victim, you either have to do that, or put in place some mechanism to remove twits like Wylie who show no comprehension as to when it is appropriate and when it is not.

  • I would go even further and say that the carnal knowledge case should not be a crime at all. Both were minors and the sex was consensual. Who was hurt here?

    Sad that the girl got pregnant but that could have also happened if her boyfriend was 14 and therefore too young to be charged.

    You can’t prosecute people for being idiots if they enjoy being idiots.

  • youcancallmemeyer

    Kev,

    You make some good points. I was a teenager in the 1960s and it’s was true in my day that a 17/13 age gap would have been rare. But in my generation school age sex occurred more in tales of bravado than in fact. This is not the case today.

    Lots of things have changed in the last 40 years. My daughters, as do all of their friends, watch television shows that even adults were not allowed to watch 40 years ago.

    Two recent episodes of Sex in The City had three young women discussing anal sex(male/female). In one of the episodes the three were in the back of a taxi. The one in the middle nervously sought the advice of the other two. Her boyfriend of six months had put the word on her. At first, the other two thought she meant normal sex and were aghast that she had not had sex with her boyfriend. Because of their affection for her, the humour of disbelief and concerned affection played out for some time. However, when the reason for her reticence became clear it was accepted by the other two that she was not a weirdo but merely not hip. Both concurred that it was about six months before anal sex was on (boom boom the punch line).

    I’d heard the dialogue unfold because my computer cubby hole adjoins the lounge room, where television is watched in our house. I had walked into the lounge room just before the punch line because the dialogue had caught my attention and I knew that both of my daughters were probably watching the show. On entering, I saw two teenage girls glued to the set, indifferent to my presence, anticipating the punch line with the eager faces that only teenagers can possess.

    I relate the story because from that moment it became clear to me that teenagers get a lot of their views from television “morality plays� such as Sex in the City. The influence of conservative sources, such as Church, elders and parents, on sexual mores has been severely diminished in modern times.

    In my day 16 years old were referred to as “gaol bate� but the day they turned 16 us 18 and 19 years olds were certainly ready to pounce.

    I think that a relationship between a 17 year old boy and a 13 year old gold is certainly not the norm today. But I don’t think many kids today have the same mindset as did my generation.Teenage sex has increased dramatically and it wouldn’t surprise me if the acceptable age for girls has been pushed down from 16 insofar as 17 year old boys are concerned.

    Additionally, the offence, if noted on the boy’s record, would have quite severe consequences. Given that it is accepted in western society that the punishment should fit the crime it could be argued that the conviction would not be isolated but would lead to a further lifetime punishment (loss of career prospects) which would not fit the crime.

    I’m not saying that the view you express (and which Dave impliedly supports) is not just, and certainly within the range of penalties, but that the penalty in this one case shouldn’t be lumped together with the other “penalties� handed out by this maroon.

    Finally, I’m interested in the reasons why you think a girl should not be charged in a similar scenario if the ages were reversed. Hope you have the time to give them.

  • Look at the age difference, the man 19, the girl 13. The man is a man.The girl, face it, is only a girl. There is quite a bit which is objectionable about it. Take just one consideration, boys and girls 1t 13 while they can get on with a job and learn to run their own finances, that’s not the same as overall maturity. That 19 year old man, it’s not too long a shot to say it, committed pederasty.

    Would it be a wrong guess to speculate, the prents would have gladly wrung the man’s neck? More-over, they might have said a few hard words to their daughter for getting involved with a bum like that. Though, these days, it’s difficult to confidently speculate so.

    I’m pretty sure if I were a father of a 14 old girl I’d apply bott to backside to 17 year old who attempted carnal knowledge. In fact, I’d be the old fashioned type father with daughters up until the day they were married. And, make sure if sons, they kept their trousers zipped, even of girls their own age or older – the rule being, no bonking unless prepared to marry the girl – and also for no bastard breeding least they feel the weight of a leather strap weilded harshly, and the son could be in his 20’s.

  • meyer,
    I lightened up when my girls finished high school. Until then I would censor tv. Of course it didn’t always work because I wasn’t always there but at least it did let the girls know where I stood on the matter. (I=wife and me)

    Sex in the City wasn’t around then so I didn’t have that problem but I know the girls watched it after high school. Post high school I mentally considered then as adults. albeit with an ‘L’ plate and with ample advise about what young men were after. I expected them to be talking about it post maybe 13 years old but I didn’t want them to have too much knowledge too soon.

    The girl as predator…I think I see the male as dominant in these situations..Yep, I know the girls can come on strong (been there)but in the case of sex I charge men with being responsible for their actions before woman.

    My father was strong on this and I accepted it.

    As well, the recent bout, world wide, of female teachers in their 20s seducing 16 year old boys doesn’t even rate in my radar other than to think – lucky bastard.

    Sounds a bit inconsistent, I know, but that is how I view those cases.

    Yobbo I agree but I think we should draw the line in the sand to stop all standards going out with the tide. I think kids need their childhood to develop and mature at their own pace. The exact age is always debatable and varies from person to person but I would stick with the standard we have now and make teens, mostly boys, think about what they are doing and the consequences.

    d:….daughters up until the day they were married. You had better be retired then because it would take all your waking hours to maintain that standard and then when you slept your wife would have to man the gates.

    You’re harder than me.

    Once again, I was originally having a go at the judge and his setting a precedence and I would worry that this precedence would extend beyond simple(both young)carnal knowledge. I would like to know he wasn’t going to take the same approach with other offences and if he did where would he draw the line?

  • youcancallmemeyer

    Kev,

    “I charge men with being responsible for their actions before woman.”

    A breath of honesty in a pc world. You are obviously not a politician.

    Thanks for responding.

  • a 19 year old going down on a 13 year old is sick and wrong plain and simple. He should be deported, I cannot believe they are going to let this sicko be a cop, great protection for society. I have a lot of samoans living near me and don’t have a very high opinion of them as they constantly park in disabled places and then try and pick fights with me when I tell them they are in the wrong.

  • Message to Eddie, you know what is more annoying is your racist comments generalising our Race, there are child molesters other than the Samoan race and trouble makers.

    I don’t have a high opinion of narrow minded fools such as your self Eddie. Its a fact that that are more molesters othan than Samoan in Australia so don’t be so quick to judge. There is good and bad in every race!

    Get over yourself

  • I can only react to the things I see in society mate.

  • Message to Eddie, Then don’t be so quick to point out a particular race and add on your personal vendetta on the overall Samoan community. Which is the same reason why I naturally reacted on your somewhat imbalanced comments B>R>O!