The State of Corruption again: A prosecution without evidence?

A district Court judge has slammed a shoddy police investigation into child-sex accusations against a teenage boy. He said officers had failed to go to the alleged crime scene, take photos or interview witnesses. Judge Philip Eaton was scathing of police handling of the case against 19-year-old Luke Wilkinson, who this week stood trial on one count of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 13 and 16. A jury of six men and six women took 20 minutes to return a unanimous verdict of not guilty on Thursday after a three-day trial.

Police laid the charge against the former Bible College student last March after a girl alleged that Mr Wilkinson, then 16, had sex with her in January 2006 in the coolroom of a Victoria Park supermarket when she was aged 14. Mr Wilkinson vehemently denied the charge. The court heard that investigating officers from Kensington police did not inspect the alleged crime scene or interview supermarket staff. No forensic evidence was tendered to the court and no clothes were seized to back-up the sex claim.

"I have to say in relation to the police investigation, that it seems to me somewhat extraordinary that the person who is investigating wouldn't go to the alleged scene of the crime and have a look around and possibly take some photographs,'' Judge Eaton told the court. "It is lamentable that a factual investigation and proper investigation, I have to say, was not carried out in this case, which may have led to the matter taking a different path to what it presently has''. Judge Eaton said that while it was "entirely proper'' for prosecutors to proceed with only the testimony of the girl, the lack of other evidence had made the defence of the allegation ``more difficult''.

The defence team twice urged the the DPP to drop the charge. Some jury members were visibly upset as defence lawyer Linda Black detailed the ``gross injustice'' of pursuing the case. "It is an absolute disgrace to find him (Mr Wilkinson) sitting in that box on the state's evidence in this case,'' Ms Black said in her closing address to the jury. "I would hope you have come to the same view as me: how on earth did this case get to here? "Clearly, the system has failed.''

Ms Black said the girl was "deliberately lying'' and had concocted a "ridiculous story'' in association with another man -- who is close to her family -- as a diversionary tactic to take attention away from child-sex charges against him.

Mr Wilkinson now wants to know why police and the DPP continued with the case against him when they had no evidence. Outside court, he demanded an apology and described the past year as a "year from hell''. "I actually wish that I had done something wrong because then I would have deserved this,'' he said.

WA Police spokesman Insp Peter Hatch said the police, along with the DPP and the Department of Child Protection, would review the handling of case. Sex-assault allegations were commonly difficult to investigate and this case more so, given the report was made 14 months later. "The lengthy lapse in time impacted on the gathering and value of available forensic evidence,'' he said. DPP corporate services director Peter Byrne said the prosecutor was right to proceed to trial because the girl maintained she was telling the truth.

Source





University forgets that lectures need to be understood

I am sure that the Chinese man concerned is a perfectly fine person but why was he hired for a job he could barely do? It sounds to me that a compulsion to do "diverse" hiring trumped all sense

The University of Queensland's prestigious law school had to sideline a new academic recruit from overseas because of poor English speaking skills. Qiao Liu was hired as a School of Law lecturer last semester but drew complaints from students that they could not understand his classes. Executive Dean Ian Zimmer confirmed Mr Liu, an Oxford graduate, had to be stood down from lectures to be given time to improve his language skills. "The School of Law acted quickly on student concerns," Prof Zimmer said.

Mr Liu began teaching Contract B to about 400 students in a large lecture theatre at UQ last July. After complaints from students, the school's then deputy head Prof Ross Grantham sat in on two lectures. He was accompanied by another law professor during the second lecture. They agreed Mr Liu's accent "seemed to be pronounced by the sound system in the large lecture theatre, creating communication problems," Prof Zimmer said.

Mr Liu agreed he should take time out from teaching in order to improve his language skills. Former Law School Dean Charles Rickett took over Mr Liu's classes for the remainder of last semester. Mr Liu resumed teaching at the start of this semester, on February 25. Under changes to the Bachelor of Law structure, he now takes on about 25 students at a time, as opposed to 400 last year, Prof Zimmer said. "No concern about Mr Liu's 2008 teaching has been raised with Prof Grantham (now head of the Law School), however he plans to sit in on Mr Liu's next class," he said.

Prof Zimmer, who was chairman of the selection committee that hired Mr Liu, said the recruit "came to us with excellent references, presented well during his interview, and was hired as a junior lecturer". At the time of his appointment he was a lecturer in law at the University of the West of England. Since July last year he has published two major articles on the law of contract in one of the world's most prestigious law journals, the Cambridge Law Journal.

The university declined to reveal Mr Liu's salary package, but Prof Zimmer said the lecturer had continued to contribute last semester through tutorials, research and an increased marking load. Mr Liu's university profile says he "teaches and researches in contract law, Chinese law, with a particular interest in comparative study of Chinese and Anglo-Australian private law".

Source





Ban on African refugees all talk

A HIGHLY controversial "ban" on African refugees imposed by the former government last year did not happen, Immigration Department figures show. As immigration minister in the Howard government, Kevin Andrews sparked national fury in October when he declared African refugees were drunks and brawlers who were not integrating in Australia. To accusations he was playing election-year race politics, he said no more African refugees would be processed until the latter part of this year because the quota of 4000 for the 2007-08 year had been filled. But five months after his comments, figures reveal the quota has yet to be reached.

About 30 per cent of Australia's humanitarian intake of 13,000 for the 2007-08 year was allocated to Africans, with the rest divided between applicants from Asia and the Middle East. Immigration figures show that, up until January 31, 2100 visas for Africans under the special humanitarian program were issued.

Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said no freeze had been imposed on the intake of African refugees and processing of applications continued. "African migration continues and we want to do more next year. The previous minister's comments were politically motivated," he said.

The Government was committed to helping African refugees under both the special humanitarian and family reunion programs. "The Rudd Government did not approve of Kevin Andrews's commentary. There is no doubt Australia's reputation was hurt [by Mr Andrews]. We have a job to do rebuilding confidence and our international reputation," Senator Evans said.

Influential refugee advocate Marion Le was astounded that the "freeze" on the intake wasn't real. "We were told the case load was full and no more could be processed until at least July this year," she said. "People who were in the pipeline were denied entry to Australia because of [Mr Andrews's] comments." Mr Andrews said the former government had not said it was ceasing the intake, only reducing it.

Source






A new government hospital with REDUCED services!

One of Australia's leading doctors has condemned the decision to demolish the hydrotherapy pool at the troubled Royal North Shore hospital. The pool, vital to spinal injury, stroke and orthopedic patients, is to close later this year and hospital administrators have admitted it will not be rebuilt during the $732 million redevelopment.

Leading spinal expert Professor John Yeo said the decision was "a grave mistake and a grave disservice to the community". "We have to make sure it is the same facility that RNS offers now and if it can't then we're going backwards. Why should we do that in this day and age?" Professor Yeo said the hospital administrators had "no knowledge of what goes on in hydro - they sit behind a desk and have probably never walked into the area and seen what's involved".

Physiotherapist Lisa Harvey said it was outrageous that the biggest health capital works project in NSW history did not include a vital piece of infrastructure. Outpatients, who make up 50 per cent of the pool's users, will be told they can travel to nearby Greenwich Hospital for hydrotherapy services. Inpatients, who make up 2 per cent of users but are the most severely injured or disabled, are yet to be offered any alternative treatment.

Australian Medical Association NSW branch president Andrew Keegan said the RNSH redevelopment threatened to end up like bungled $98 million Bathurst Base Hospital redevelopment.

Kevin Hitchcock credits two months of rehabilitation sessions in the pool for "getting me out of a wheelchair and walking again". After breaking his neck in a shallow part of the Hawkesbury River 16 years ago, the former Channel Ten news director defied predictions that he would be a quadriplegic and slowly learned to walk as his daughter Kirra, who was five weeks old at the time of the accident, was taking her first steps. "Hydrotherapy is so important for recovery from spinal injury. It gets you up and moving again," Mr Hitchcock said.

A hospital spokesperson said: "A hydrotherapy pool has not been included in the plans for the RNSH redevelopment, but suitable clinical options for inpatients will be explored in the next phase of consultation with clinicians." [Bullsh*t, Bullsh*t, Bullsh*t]

Source