Andrew Bailey, mitigating, said it was a 'nasty' incident and Lowe's behaviour was 'every parent's nightmare.'Well, yes indeed, being punched in the stomach (while pregnant) by a complete stranger who is engaged in a broad daylight tug-of-war with you with your 11-month old baby as the rope is pretty nasty, isn't it?
But aren't you supposed to be minimising the defendant's behaviour?
'He presents a risk and that needs to be reduced,' said Mr Bailey.Wow! Have we found a defence brief with a conscience?
Court heard that he had shown remorse and suffered from mental health difficulties, including schizophrenia.
Lowe had worked as a street cleaner, but had to leave that job because of taunts and abuse from children.And had presumably been left to his own devices by the mental health authorities?
Well, he's the prison system's problem now. That'll help, won't it?
Jailing Lowe for two years, Judge David Tremberg said: 'It's every parent's nightmare to have a stranger try to abduct their child, particularly in a case like this when it was a young woman who was on her own and 17 weeks' pregnant, and against whom you used some violence.
'Let this be a lesson to you and let this be the last time you ever appear before a criminal court.'He's 68 - what are the odds?
"had to leave that job because of taunts and abuse from children.
ReplyDeleteYet we've been led to believe that harrassment is against the law and discriminating against the mentally and physically disabled a virtual hanging offence.
Evidently not.
Lowe had worked as a street cleaner, but had to leave that job because of taunts and abuse from children.
ReplyDeleteClearly the local kids had him sussed better than those wise heads who placed him in that position in the first place.
This is why we still need asylums. There is no way this one is capable of living independently and he shouldn't have been out on his own. He won't be capable of it now; it's too late. That we have to fall back on prison only when he has endangered a pregnant woman and an infant is shame on the idiot theorists who put him out in the first place.
ReplyDeleteA compassionate society has to fact the fact that a number of citizens may never be able to manage long-lasting mutual relationships. If they have solitary independence it may be fragile and depend on their youth and health. As they age, they will be less able to cope with it. They will need institutionalized care, carefully monitored so that it never becomes abusive or acts in its own interests rather than theirs.
70 year old recidivist?
ReplyDeleteThere is no way this one is capable of living independently and he shouldn't have been out on his own.
ReplyDeleteWell no, especially not when no one gives a shit about the poor bastard being left well alone to get on with his job in peace.
People like this need locking up to save them from the "sane" people.
"Yet we've been led to believe that harrassment is against the law and discriminating against the mentally and physically disabled a virtual hanging offence. "
ReplyDeleteEvidently not indeed!
"This is why we still need asylums. There is no way this one is capable of living independently and he shouldn't have been out on his own."
Spot on! It wouldn't be considered 'kind' to release a habituated zoo animal into the wild so it could have its freedom.
Why is it considered so for humans?
"70 year old recidivist?"
If he's really mentally ill, he's not likely to stop.