[Politics] In other news - Harry Dunn

[pasty]

Pathetic sentence. I couid tell about half way through the judges summing up that she wasn’t going down.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Special relationship. More like a one way ticket.

 

[fly high]

Special relationship. More like a one way ticket.

It always has been, we kid ourselves it isn't.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

This whole thing has stunk of simple revenge rather than justice. It was an accident, for goodness sake.
I have known that road by the American base. It is long and straight… No one knows how fast the lad was going on his motorcycle. It has hidden dips that make it dangerous.
I remember when in the USA many years back we traveled in hired car , the lad driving took a corner and automatically swung onto the left side of the road , just as you do at home. I can understand how it happened.
No sentence will bring back their son . Better to have just grieved for him and moved on.

 

[Weststander]

This whole thing has stunk of simple revenge rather than justice. It was an accident, for goodness sake.
I have known that road by the American base. It is long and straight… No one knows how fast the lad was going on his motorcycle. It has hidden dips that make it dangerous.
I remember when in the USA many years back we traveled in hired car , the lad driving took a corner and automatically swung onto the left side of the road , just as you do at home. I can understand how it happened.
No sentence will bring back their son . Better to have just grieved for him and moved on.

Justice had to be served.

Exiting the UK in a flash was both furtive and selfish.

Well done to the politicians and police who didn’t give up on the cause.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Surprising with all the utter dross that gets debated on here that people aren't more engaged with this one. But hey, at least she got a one year UK driving ban on top, ouch.

 

[drew]

This whole thing has stunk of simple revenge rather than justice. It was an accident, for goodness sake.
I have known that road by the American base. It is long and straight… No one knows how fast the lad was going on his motorcycle. It has hidden dips that make it dangerous.
I remember when in the USA many years back we traveled in hired car , the lad driving took a corner and automatically swung onto the left side of the road , just as you do at home. I can understand how it happened.
No sentence will bring back their son . Better to have just grieved for him and moved on.

I didn't realise it was his fault all along!!!

Do you think the Americans would have taken the view 'it was just an accident' had your mate taken someone out? Your mate got lucky, Succubus didn't. She then ran away, aided and abetted by her government.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

This whole thing has stunk of simple revenge rather than justice. It was an accident, for goodness sake.
I have known that road by the American base. It is long and straight… No one knows how fast the lad was going on his motorcycle. It has hidden dips that make it dangerous.
I remember when in the USA many years back we traveled in hired car , the lad driving took a corner and automatically swung onto the left side of the road , just as you do at home. I can understand how it happened.
No sentence will bring back their son . Better to have just grieved for him and moved on.

Whilst I have no doubt that the American car driver did not set out to intentionally kill the motorcyclist there is VERY clear negligence in her driving [being on the wrong side of the road].
In the UK, the usual charge would be expected to be "causing death by dangerous / reckless driving" - it's as good as manslaughter.
An eight-month suspended sentence is, quite frankly, a disgrace and a sham!

I think we can all "understand how" it happened - the car driver caused a death by her error / negligence.
And if the road was as long and straight as you describe, either, or both parties would have seen each other coming and taken avoiding action.

 

[wellquickwoody]

8 months suspended. Shameful.

Entirely predictable too.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Whilst I have no doubt that the American car driver did not set out to intentionally kill the motorcyclist there is VERY clear negligence in her driving [being on the wrong side of the road].
In the UK, the usual charge would be expected to be "causing death by dangerous / reckless driving" - it's as good as manslaughter.
An eight-month suspended sentence is, quite frankly, a disgrace and a sham!

I think we can all "understand how" it happened - the car driver caused a death by her error / negligence.
And if the road was as long and straight as you describe, either, or both parties would have seen each other coming and taken avoiding action.

There is a long straight road out to Heathfield from Lewes with many up, downs, dips n hills. Used to RIDE it often many years ago at high speed thinking it was safe as it was straight. Only some time later did it occur to me that all the time I was in a dip at high speed I was invisible to anyone overtaking in the next dip after the hill in front. I slowed down after that.

 

[vegster]

Justice had to be served.

Exiting the UK in a flash was both furtive and selfish.

Well done to the politicians and police who didn’t give up on the cause.

Exiting the UK was also cowardly and a confirmation of guilt. Sadly this was aided by the US government and officials. I'm pretty sure that most people in her position would feel shame, guilt and horror for what they had just done and hold their hands up and accept the consequences. ...but no, she had a way out and grabbed it with both hands.

I hope her conscience eventually arrives one day.

 

[abc]

Perhaps the issue is sentencing of RTAs per se. This was an accident but due to negligence. As far as I am aware, the driver hadn’t been drinking, texting or using the phone. Yet the penalties when these are factors never seem to reflect the crime either.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

It was an accident, for goodness sake.

ah yes indeed, great line, funny enough I used these exact words at my 19 year old nephews funeral, oh how we all laughed, especially his mother and his three brothers and sister.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Whilst I have no doubt that the American car driver did not set out to intentionally kill the motorcyclist there is VERY clear negligence in her driving [being on the wrong side of the road].
In the UK, the usual charge would be expected to be "causing death by dangerous / reckless driving" - it's as good as manslaughter.
An eight-month suspended sentence is, quite frankly, a disgrace and a sham!

I think we can all "understand how" it happened - the car driver caused a death by her error / negligence.
And if the road was as long and straight as you describe, either, or both parties would have seen each other coming and taken avoiding action.

Which the judge actually said in sentencing. Basically she said it was an offence worthy of custodial sentencing but it was unenforceable, hence the fudge. That was how I read between her words. She was damning in her verdict but then swerved to suspend it at the end.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Before anyone else decides to emote about the light sentence or, on the other hand, complain that it was just bad luck and should never have gone to court, the purpose of the prosecution was to bring a sense of justice and closure for the family. If they are satisfied with what, to me, does seem like a slap on the wrist for the daft bat behind the wheel, then so am I.

Let's see what the boy's mum and dad have to say about the process and outcome:

"Getting to court and getting to where we are now has been the most monumental thing for me because I can talk to him now and tell him we've done it. Promise complete.
"I feel I can breathe easier. I don't have that guilt on my shoulders of not having done it yet.
"I've gone from not being able to feel proud because it hadn't yet been done, to now where I can say I now do feel proud."
"Hopefully we've given hope to other families that they can do the same as us and get justice and believe and fight because it will happen in the end, it will happen."

Time now for NSC to move on?

 

[happypig]

Contrary to what most people believe, and what is almost always reported, a "suspended sentence" isn't a sentence in and of itself. The correct way to phrase it is "[period of time] imprisonment, suspended for [another period of time]"
The reasons for this is that sentences in order of seriousness are Absolute Discharge, Conditional Discharge, Fine, Community Penalty and Custody.
Once the threshold for imposing a custodial sentence has been passed the sentencing justice(s) have to consider whether it should be immediate or suspended.
In the Sacoolas case, I imagine the suspension was as much pragmatic as anything else as she's never going to come back here to do time.
Of course the judge could have made it immediate and issued a warrant for her arrest which may have had a bigger impact on her in the wider world.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Before anyone else decides to emote about the light sentence or, on the other hand, complain that it was just bad luck and should never have gone to court, the purpose of the prosecution was to bring a sense of justice and closure for the family. If they are satisfied with what, to me, does seem like a slap on the wrist for the daft bat behind the wheel, then so am I.

Let's see what the boy's mum and dad have to say about the process and outcome:

"Getting to court and getting to where we are now has been the most monumental thing for me because I can talk to him now and tell him we've done it. Promise complete.
"I feel I can breathe easier. I don't have that guilt on my shoulders of not having done it yet.
"I've gone from not being able to feel proud because it hadn't yet been done, to now where I can say I now do feel proud."
"Hopefully we've given hope to other families that they can do the same as us and get justice and believe and fight because it will happen in the end, it will happen."

Time now for NSC to move on?

What a strange take - especially referring to a woman whose actions caused the death of a young man as a "daft bat". If it really gives them the closure they are looking for then I am pleased for them. But the issue at hand is whether or not the exact same sentence would have been given to someone who didn't hide behind the US Government to avoid any kind of justice. My view, and that of others, is that someone else would have done actual time which makes this a miscarriage of justice. Not sure why I and others need to move on for the reasons you give.

 

[CheeseRolls]

This whole thing has stunk of simple revenge rather than justice. It was an accident, for goodness sake.
I have known that road by the American base. It is long and straight… No one knows how fast the lad was going on his motorcycle. It has hidden dips that make it dangerous.
I remember when in the USA many years back we traveled in hired car , the lad driving took a corner and automatically swung onto the left side of the road , just as you do at home. I can understand how it happened.
No sentence will bring back their son . Better to have just grieved for him and moved on.

Modern cars now operate at very high safety standards. I am probably way too old to be a woke snowflake but the trivialisation of road traffic collisions as accidents really grinds my gears and needs to be challenged more often. Driving on the wrong side of the road is carelessness and I expect to be judged as such if I am driving in the US or Europe. Knowing that you are driving in conditions you are unfamiliar with demands that you pay more attention and this death was entirely avoidable.

 

[rippleman]

I am pleased that Harry's mum feels that justice has been done and she has closure. He was her son and it has been her fight. If she is happy, then we should be too.

I certainly wouldn't consider a pathetic suspended sentence from an unbelievably weak and pathetic judge "justice" if it was my son. But if she is satisfied with the sentence, then we should accept it.

 

[jamie (not that one)]

Special relationship. More like a one way ticket.

We've always been their little sidecar and even if she got sentenced, the US "don't extradite their own" and wouldn't care less what we have to say. Amanda Knox, for example.

Of course, they demand we extradite to them.