Patent absurdity

It seems that there was a recent case where a Hawke’s Bay Ma¯ ori woman, convicted of stabbing her boyfriend seven times, had her prison sentence reduced by the female judge. This reduction of 30 per cent was for the alleged mitigating circumstance that the convicted woman suffered from “post-colonial trauma”.

Although her victim’s ethnicity wasn’t mentioned (and he survived all the stabbings), the alleged mitigation seems to hint that he was a white man. I merely surmise.

So here is the latest example of idiotic political correctness, combining racism and feminism. It is now very likely that this sentence will be a precedent, copied in practically every sentence for a convicted Ma¯ ori (and most likely convicted Pasifika too), whether the crime be of violence, dishonesty, negligence, or general disregard of the law and of civilisation. It will be applied to both sexes, too.

As our present Government has announced its aim of greatly reducing the nation’s prison population, it looks as though the judiciary is now under orders to help achieve this goal, so our judges will seize on patent absurdities or any old excuse to further the government’s current agenda.

The fact that crime will not be adequately punished, or its victims given proper help, seems to be ignored by all branches of government — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Because the Far North has a very large percentage of Ma¯ ori in its population, I am sure that all this is now coming to a courthouse near you, so you will have to report it.

Meanwhile, I am expecting some strong comments from the Sensible Sentencing Trust, as its head sherang, the admirable Garth McVicar, also happens to live in