SUPPRESSION CITY
 
If you think my campaign against suppression orders in our courts is wrong or exaggerated. If you think Melbourne has not become the Suppression City capital of Australia. If you don’t think our magistrates and judges have more sympathy for the rights of recidivist criminals than they do for their victims -- then you haven’t met or heard of Janine Greening.
 
Ten years ago her 73-year-old mother was sexually assaulted and murdered in her Seaford home while her intellectually disabled brother was in the same house and probably witnessed the savagery.
 
Marie Greening Zidan’s killers were two teenagers who knew the family. You cannot know who they are because they were underage when the murder took place. Their identities are protected.
 
While in jail awaiting trial they left obscene and taunting messages on the family’s answering service. They received piddling detention sentences until a public campaign, in which I was involved, prompted an OPP appeal and those sentences were marginally increased.
 
While in custody at the Juvenile Justice Centre one of the men broke the ankle of a work experience student during a scuffle over a bag of sweets.

Both youths, now in their twenties, were released. Their identities protected… it now seems forever. One breached his parole conditions in 2007 when found wandering the streets in contravention of his curfew.
 
After their release Janine Greening said the men had shown no remorse.
 
She has argued that the killers should be named publicly, making an exception to the rule that juvenile offenders remain anonymous and there
there have been unsuccessful legal battles to allow their public identification.
 
Now it seems that not only are they protected in the community for that brutal death of a defenceless elderly woman… they are protected  for any crimes in the future.
 
The young criminal who breached parole three years ago was released in November. He has appeared in Magistrate’s Court facing fresh charges relating to stolen property and obtaining property by deception.
 
And his name has been suppressed again. To make it worse, under the new draconian court censorship laws, snuck through late last year and brought into effect in January, I can’t even say what happened in court yesterday. Or why a new gag order was imposed.
 
And they say justice must be seen to be done. This is legal madness.
 
Tuesday, March 2, 2010

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2010