A little whisper in the dark

All hail, the judicial system

Today, a drink-driving motorist was sentenced to four months jail for killing a cyclist. On the same day, on a different page of the newspaper, there was also a report on a police constable being sentenced to 16 months jail for having fellatio with an underaged girl.

Pardon me?

While it goes without saying that probably 2 different judges attended to each case (and I could not be bothered to find out if it was the case), is breach of morality, if we use jail terms as a guide, four times as heinous as drink-driving and causing an innocent life to be lost?

The act of fellatio, as far as can be inferred, had been between two consenting parties at the point of the incident. Was any lives involved? I should think not. Safer than having sex, I should think.

The motorist, in apparent migitation, said he was "remorseful" and that he was going to pick up his wife and daughter. He had been drinking for at least 3 hours beforehand. He was also speeding. The cyclist did not ask to be knocked down: he was minding his own business riding along the road, at the conclusion of a round island ride in which he had the role to shepherd less-skilled riders.

And thus a young life, on the brink of contributing to a society that groomed him to the point of university, was snuffed out.

Perhaps we should let bygones be bygones, and let the poor guy carry this cross the rest of his life.

But lawyers, being the people they are, would invoke this case in time to come, to attempt to lessen other offending motorists' sentences. And just what kind of signal are we sending out, with a judicial system like this? One that places oral sex above public safety on the roads? One that places morality over life?

Is the judicial system in need of a major re-think? Is the system in need of a lot of standardization of seriousness and importance?

I'd say give that drunkard the maximum sentence, and even that at 2 years is disproportionate to what he has taken away, and I'd say take his licence for life and make sure he never gets behind a steering wheel again.

posted by Chung Leong @ 12:39 AM