re: re baxter: corby:right verdict, wrong reaction It's amazing that you come to Australia, presumably for a better life, then complete fail to see what makes this country so great; ie our legal system is big part of it.
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You've got to be joking about our great legal system
Killers' jail terms 'absolutely unbelievable'
By Natasha Wallace
May 31, 2005 - 1:38PM
The family of promising young rugby league player Kane Mason, who was shot dead during a street scuffle, has criticised the sentence of one of his killers, as being "too lenient".
A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to at least 9½ years for killing Mason, 24, and shooting his teammate Darren Ward in the face during a fight in a Macksville street in July 2003.
Mr Ward survived but sustained serious head and facial injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye for six months.
The teenager fired two shots - the first a "warning" shot, which he had not realised hit Mr Ward. He fired the second shot directly at Mason - after his friend, Michael Douglas Clifford, who was brawling with Mason, asked him for help.
Clifford, then 19, was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court to six years' jail, with a non-parole period of three years, for manslaughter and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. He had pleaded not guilty.
He could be released next year on parole due to time already served.
The boy, who can be named only as AB, was sentenced to a maximum period of 14 years after pleading guilty to murder and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm upon Mr Ward.
He will be eligible for parole in 2013.
Mason, who played lower grade rugby league for the former Manly Sea Eagles, had been out drinking with friends and did not know either of the teens.
Justice Michael Adams said both teens had come from extremely violent families and had abused drugs and alcohol from a very young age - AB since he was eight years old.
Both were heavily intoxicated with alcohol and cannabis on the night.
Clifford has been diagnosed with a major psychotic illness, he said.
Justice Adams said although the pair took a gun out with them that night, they did not intend to use it upon a person but rather to do damage to a person's car.
"This tragic case bore all the hallmarks of immaturity, thoughtlessness, recklessness and foolish impulsive bravado," Justice Adams said.
"I do not think [Clifford and AB] really appreciated the dangerousness of what they were doing and I expect that they never thought anyone was in actual danger of injury let alone death," he said.
He said Clifford was shocked by what had happened. "I do not doubt that he was very upset and frightened after the shots were fired."
Outside court, Mr Ward also said the sentences were "very lenient".
"It's just let the community down. One of them will be out next year, which is absolutely unbelievable ... something has got to be done about this justice system."
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re: re baxter: corby:right verdict, wrong reaction It's amazing...
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