Tapping their knuckles is not enough – jailing’s the answer
THE spate of assaults and brawls in the streets of Perth has reached such a critical point that the courts must decide on imposing deterrent sentences on those convicted of anti-social behaviour against ordinary citizens, the elderly and the police.
Not sentencing the thugs to jail for serious and despicable crimes is certainly not dealing appropriately with the rising rate of street violence now prevailing even on broad daylight.
Increasingly, more families are concerned, anxious and fearful of leaving their homes to have a night out in case they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are afraid to be confronted by these merciless thugs who have no compassion for anyone.
Such attacks have caused considerable trauma, nightmare and the loss of confidence among some of the victims who, sometimes, imagine that they are being followed -- needless fear that only counselling could remove from their mind.
This is understandable because the viciousness of the attacks is clearly seen on the faces of the victims. Some may be scarred for life; some may even lose their eyesight or their set of teeth. One of the recent victims, for example, has two metal plates in his eye-sockets and 19 stitches in his head.
There as no attempt of robbery, yelling, screaming or taunting. All he heard from one of them was “do you want some?” Then he felt the blow on his face as blood oozed out. He had been attacked with a meat cleaver.
There was no reason for such a brutal and unprovoked attack. The victim was picked at random as he was walking home to a Burswood unit.
What kind of a person who could do something so abhorrent to another human being? Does he not think that, if he was in the same shoe as his victim, he would not like the same thing to happen to him? Isn’t there any remorse in him? Most unlikely, it would seem.
If this wasn’t bad enough, consider this. Some 10km south of Perth in Leeming two teenagers were returning home from a party when they were pounced upon by a group of 15 hooligans.
One of the youths suffered a shattered cheekbone and had 12 stitches in his head and eyelid. He was king-hit and kicked by at least four of the hooligans.
His friend was punched, but lucky for him, a passing car with some passengers in it stopped to help the youths. The assailants fled with a watch, mobile phone and a cap.
In the port city of Fremantle a day earlier a man had his leg broken when two thugs on bicycles rammed into him, bashed him and stole his wallet.
In Perth city two British backpackers were attacked at about 3am, but the police arrested their alleged assailants.
All these violent incidents took place within two nights of last weekend. The climax came in Perth’s entertainment precinct of Northbridge where the police arrested 25 people for allegedly disorderly conduct and fighting on the streets.
They were charged with 62 offences and 36 summonses were issued on others. The police also issued 24 liquor infringements and 43 move-on orders to disperse the ugly scene.
There is no doubt that this is an eye-opener of how violent the Northbridge nightlife is these days. The police say it is a typical Friday night event when some people, half of whom are repeat offenders, “ruined the fun for all the law-abiding citizens”.
Families are afraid to take their children to what police union chief Mike Dean describes as a “no-zone for the public”.
And it has reached a stage that Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan concedes the police is finding it increasingly difficult to enforce public order in Northbridge. He believes the problem arises from abuse of alcohol in the nightclubs and public bars which are open till early hours of the morning.
He wants the trading hours to be cut back and licensed premises be forced to close earlier for the sake of public safety.
“The escalation of harm we are seeing in Northbridge requires action,” he declares. “Without this level of support, police will have no choice but to continue to act as ‘street sweepers’.” Can anyone blame the police?
But, frankly, the police also need the support of the judiciary to ensure that thuggery and violence in the streets need to be dealt with more appropriately than in the past.
It is frustrating to the police – and an outrage to the community as a whole – to bring these reckless hooligans and hoodlums who are intent to cause serious harm -- even the possibility of death -- to the courts only to see that they are set free because the judges are too soft to show that such horrible incidents must end now before it is too late.
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