In message <586v76F2g3jjmU1@mid.individual.net>, Gaz
writes
>
>"The Todal" wrote in message
>news:586ppbF2dd7e1U1@mid.individual.net...
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2055028,00.html
>>
>> "Ingram told the court that the boy "deliberately and quite disgustingly"
>> coughed into his face. "It was a spit, frankly, into my face.""
>>
>> If a child deliberately spits into your face, as the child more or less
>> admitted to doing, surely society ought to permit us as adults to grab the
>> child and rebuke him, without being prosecuted for doing so?
>>
>> If not, well, it's part of the chain of events that leads to knife crime,
>> frankly. The belief on the part of children that they can threaten you
>> with a knife and you aren't allowed to hit back. I suppose the only
>> permissible act was to run after the boy and say, politely, "please don't
>> do that again or I shall summon a constable".
>
>Has someone got a better link to the details of the decision. I find it hard
>to understand how the Major is guilty of anything. He was on the radio this
>morning (sounding slightly uninformed), the youth spat phlegm in the face of
>the major, who grabbed the boy by his clothes, no other act was carried out.
Indeed. That is assault. And it clearly was done in retaliation, not
self-defence.
>The boy claimed he was pushed against a wall, on the stand (via a video
>evidence, why would they get such a luxery?) the boy admitted making up the
>story about being pushed etc.
>
>Yet, the major was found guilty. How far has the law removed itself from
>common sense? Is this a poor decision by the magistrate (understandable due
>to the lay nature of the position) that would be overturned in a higher
>court?
No. It is an absolutely correct application of the law. There is no
conceivable basis in law that the major could have been found not
guilty. But I applaud the magistrates for giving him an absolute
discharge. It is clearly a case that should not have been prosecuted in
the first place, and the AD reflects that.
--
Richard Miller |