Then Why Are You Excusing It, Judge Munby?
Simon Ramet, 39, from Hockley, was jailed for 20 months last October for repeatedly punching and kicking Christina Ramet and a clerk at Southend County Court.
Ramet’s charge of contempt then had to be dealt with by Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division at London’s High Court.
Yesterday Sir James said he did not want to punish Ramet any further given the upset caused to a mum, dad and son in the case.
And the clerk? Doesn’t
he count for anything?
Sir James said he had concluded it would be wrong, as a matter of principle, for him to impose any additional sentence on Ramet as “to do so would be to punish him twice for the same conduct”.
However, Sir James added: “None of this, nothing, I repeat, nothing, can begin to excuse what Mr Ramet did on that afternoon in court at Southend.”
*baffled*
Julia you've been completely mislead by that newspaper article. This guy had already been punished for the offence (20 months inside). It's just a weird part of the way the system works that he basically ended up in court twice for the same bit of behaviour.
ReplyDeleteIt's very well covered here:
http://suesspiciousminds.com/2014/01/22/assault-committed-in-court-the-ramet-case/
Munby is one of the good guys, who apparently spends most of his working day ramming figurative red-hot pokers up the collective backsides of the rest of the judicial system. If you're forced to guess at a choice between the Southend Echo and Munby, I'd recommend going for the latter.
"This guy had already been punished for the offence.."
ReplyDeleteFor the assault, yes. Not for the contempt of court.
"Munby is one of the good guys..."
I'll keep an eye out and see if that proves to be true.