Legal Studies Assessment

Legal Studies Assessment

Law to punish miscarriage assaults

February 24, 2005

ASSAULTS on pregnant women leading to the deaths of their unborn children will be punishable by up to 25 years in prison under new New South Wales laws.

NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus said the Government would amend the definition of grievous bodily harm under the Crimes Act to include the loss of an unborn child.

Mr Debus said the amendment would not interfere with existing abortion laws.

He said the amendment was being introduced after the cases of Renee Shields who lost her unborn baby boy Byron in a road rage incident in 2001 and Kylie Flick who lost her unborn child after she was assaulted in 2002.

"The amendment is specifically aimed at criminal attacks upon women, enabling the courts to give due recognition to the pain and trauma experienced by women like Renee Shields and Kylie Flick who lost their babies following senseless and brutal attacks," Mr Debus said.

This particular article is about a new amendment that has been introduced that if an offender assaults a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage then the offender will receive up to 25 years.

I think this is a good idea, it causes women a lot of stress and emotional damage if they lose a child unborn or born, if a criminal is the cause of a baby's death then the effect will be compensation of the woman by dealing the maximum punishment.

This article concerns administrative law as it is a law introduced to help the rights of citizens.

Unprovoked

Man jailed for shooting girl

February 24, 2005

A FATHER of two has been jailed for at least five years for the unprovoked shooting of a teenage girl.

Riannon Pierce required emergency surgery after she was shot in the abdomen by Robin Paul Murdoch at her home at Macclesfield, south-east of Adelaide, during the early hours of January 1, 2003.

The South Australian District Court heard Murdoch, 29, of Mount Barker, smiled as he fired the revolver and threatened: "If you tell anyone about this I'm going to shoot you. I'm going to kill you".

He had met Riannon, now 17, just moments before the shooting.

Halfway through his court trial, Murdoch pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded firearm in a public place and two charges of discharging a firearm with intent to annoy or frighten.

He was further convicted by a jury of one charge of shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Judge Michael Boylan said today Murdoch had been showing off the revolver before the near-fatal shooting, playing with bullets and firing the gun into the air and at another boy's feet.

Judge Boylan said Riannon remained traumatised by the event, suffered panic attacks and was antisocial.

"It was not possible to remove the bullet and it is still lodged near her spine," he said.

"It is her understanding that should doctors try to remove the bullet, she may end up paralysed.

"She still experiences stiffness, soreness and pain, and has difficulty sleeping.

"She worries that she will be unable to have children."

Judge Boylan expressed grave concern that no-one, including Murdoch, could explain the motive for the shooting.

He sentenced Murdoch to eight years and six months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years.

This article is about a man who has been persecuted to eight years nine months imprisonment for shooting a teenage girl who now has a bullet lodged in her back near her spine, and she knows that if doctors try and get it out she may end up paralysed and she has various pains and aches and has trouble sleeping.

This is obviously to do with criminal law as it a criminal offence to shoot people. The law is effective in this particular case I think as he did do something against the law and should be punished; I actually feel that his sentence isn't long enough.

Ports fined $90K after accident

by Samantha Baden

February 24, 2005

THE Sydney Ports Corporation has been fined $90,000 after it was found responsible for a faulty movable gangway that catapulted a wharfie onto a jetty, inflicting massive injuries including brain damage.

WorkCover NSW successfully sued the Sydney Ports Corporation in the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for breaching the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act over the July 23, 2001, incident at Port Botany.

Sydney Ports failed to ensure "the health, safety and welfare at work" of its employees, IRC Justice Conrad Staff found in his judgment on the matter.

The corporation initially pleaded not guilty to the offence but changed its plea to guilty on the second day of the hearing.

Mr Collins suffered multiple injuries including an open fractured pelvis with six fractures as a result of the incident.

His femur was driven through his hip into his abdomen, he had an embolism in a lung and lost 40 per cent of lung capacity and also suffered brain damage.

The accident occurred after Mr Collins, a port officer, used a movable gangway to gain access to a tug.

The gangway was stored in a vertical position and was mechanically lowered to the horizontal position.

But as Mr Collins walked across the gangway, it moved quickly from the horizontal position to the vertical position, catapulting Mr Collins from the gangway onto the jetty.

Justice Staff noted Sydney Ports Corporation had made efforts to fix problems with the gangway prior to the event.

But he said its use by Mr Collins involved "inherent risk of it suddenly moving to the vertical position if there was a failure in the components".

"I am satisfied that the defendant knew of the risk of the gangway suddenly moving to the vertical position and it was for this reason during 2000 that it sought the advice ... on a