Thoughts

I heard a story tonight that quite appalled me. One of the loaders that I have gotten to know reasonably well at one of the depots I go to paid me the honor of confiding in me tonight. he is an Island boy & like a lot of Island families, he & his wife not only have a lot of love for their own kids, they have also taken an extra under their wings. Turns out though that this kid who is 12 years old is bit of a bad apple, getting heavily involved with a bad crowd. The crowning insult was him stealing money from Mum & lying about it. The punishment was 5 cuts across the bum with a "Soft Belt" Apparently while this was happening, he fell forward & hit his face on a table. He ended up with blood coming from his nose & due to a complaint  by a neighbor, the police were called.

My friend was arrested, threatened with a Taser & spent 2 nights in the cells. On his release he was told that he wasn't allowed to go home. At the moment, he is sleeping either in his van on the side of the road, or, when he can get one, using one of the drivers rooms at his place of work. Now I will be the first to hold my hand up & say,"But this is all according to him & may not necessarily be true, but it isn't the only incident. I was also told tonight of another similar incident where a father was summarily banned from his home on the say so of a young lady with history. Fortunately, the police involved, (It happened in a small town) were aware of her history & his rightful place was soon reinstated, but still the fact remains.

Now I'm not condoning parental violence. Quite the contrary. But I do feel uneasy though about a piece of legislation that allows a vindictive pre adolescent to have an adult banned from his own home, especially when he doesn't have a lot of money to spare & has no relatives to stay with. Surely, this is a counterproductive measure if the hoped for end result is reduction of family violence. Surely, treating someone in that fashion is only going to engender more resentment & anger.

So thank you Sue Bradford for being responsible for one of the most ill conceived, poorly enacted & badly enforced piece of shit legislation ever enacted in this country. Obviously, you have never had the dubious experience of being told by a complete stranger that you have been banned from your own home.