Wednesday 16 March 2011

Sentences That Make You Go ‘Huh?!?

Gunstone, who has a girlfriend
Yeah, my thoughts exactly!

Even the defence seems to have been doing his best not to do his best…
His lawyer Richard Crabb said he had 'entrenched and unshakeable views' about what happened - but the judge said the parole board will take this into account and Gunstone may remain in jail for many years.
Why was he ever released from the first attack, is a more pertinent question.

6 comments:

Jim said...

A bullet would be best option............

Anonymous said...

Jim I'd go with boltgun...the bolt being reusable. Think of the environment and recycle *smirk*

Mark Wadsworth said...

Huh?1?

Angry Exile said...

I was wondering how the hell he got such a light sentence for the first attack too. Here's the answer - apparently it didn't go as far as rape. Still, a year for what he did do seems grossly lenient, as does the 4.25 years minimum sentence he got this time. I'm not in favour of automatic 'three strikes' type policies but the report of the first attack mentioned that Gunstone already had a conviction for violence, so he clearly went from there to sexual assault and now on to rape. The next stage seems unlikely to be adopting homeless baby animals and singing to them while feeding them by hand. The maximum sentence for rape is life and I cannot understand why, given his escalating pattern of offending, they didn't use it.

Couple of things from the report of the earlier attack:

Gunstone must put his details on the Sex Offender Register for the next ten years.

A great help for his latest victim who is presumably somehow less raped than she would have been had her attacker not been on the register. I don't quite get how. Perhaps you need to be a politician.

And something that might cause JuliaM to launch a coffee cup across the room.

Defence counsel Richard Crabb said Gunstone had learning difficulties and lacked communication skills.

The old "it was the drink that made him done it, yeronnah" excuse also put in an appearance. History, or at least This Is North Devon, is silent on whether the judge replied that Gunstone shouldn't fucking drink then, but since the clown only gave him a year it seems unlikely.

Next time, and I'd put money on there being a next time, would it be too much to hope that they just chuck the bloody key away?

JuliaM said...

"I'd go with boltgun...the bolt being reusable. Think of the environment and recycle "

:D

"...he clearly went from there to sexual assault and now on to rape. The next stage seems unlikely to be adopting homeless baby animals and singing to them while feeding them by hand. "

A normal person would think so, but it seems the parole board are convinced they are in a 'Britain's Got Talent' type competition, and the next Mother Teresa is out there somewhere...

"And something that might cause JuliaM to launch a coffee cup across the room."

*SMASH*

Mjolinir said...

What Angry Exile said

@Julia -//Why was he ever released from the first attack//

Because Parliament doesn't allow "whole life" (Never, ever, released)
sentences for the Offence he committed in 2009.

Perhaps they should?

Most papers report that he will have to serve 'a minimum of 4 years and 3 months' but don't explain this this the earliest he can APPLY to the Parole board. Only one account refers to an "indefinite" sentence.

A cynic MIGHT wonder why the defence Counsel commented (during the Sentencing procedure) about 'entrenched and unshakeable views'

Admission of guilt is a pre-requisite for application to the Parole Board - and unless Gunstone can then convince them that he no longer holds such opinions (that he isn't guilty 'because' the woman invited him to do it) - they cannot even begin to consider the case.