SENSIBLE SENTENCING TRUST

MEDIA RELEASE
28 July 2006

We cannot prevent crime if we prevent consequence

"How is it possible for a man who admits their part in a street killing to be given leave to apply for home detention rather than go straight to prison?", asks Sensible Sentencing Trusts spokesman on Crime Prevention, Marc Alexander.

"The victim, Trevor Clague, was bashed on the head with a baseball bat by complete strangers. He died. Then Phillip Stephen Daikee (19) drove the alleged attackers away, destroyed the alleged weapon, admitted a charge of willfully attempting to pervert the course of justice, and received nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"Justice Chisolm jailed him for six months but then sent him home and granted him leave to apply for home detention saying ' take this episode as a warning of how narrow the path that one treads in life can be'. A warning? Is that really all a man's life is worth?"

"How can we expect our youth to value life and respect the law when the consequence of killing an innocent life - no matter what an individual's contribution might be to that death - is given a minimal legal deterrent?

"He may not have swung the bat but his role should not be marginalised.

"We should never respond to violence lightly - it plays into the hands of criminals giving them a benefit they absolved themselves of to their victims. No crime will ever be prevented if we don't take the consequences of crime seriously with appropriate and proportionate penalties."

ENDS

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