Michael's Blog

I spent most of Monday in a Sydney local court, waiting to act as a witness in a negligent driving case. The defendant had no legal representation and was not sure whether to plead guilty, so while he sought advice, the witnesses had to wait.
I was watching the constant coming and going in the court room. Open door, bow to judge, find a seat. Get up, go to door, bow to judge, leave. A number of cases were adjourned, the ones that the judge deals with are mostly first offences and range from traffic offenses to assault.

9 out of 10 offenses were alcohol related.

There is the pub owner, who met some mates on the way home, had a few beers and got caught DUI. He cannot afford to loose his license and has installed a breathaliser in his car that won’t let him drive after drinks. He gets six months without license and 18 months with the breathaliser, it’s not his first offence.

There’s the guy who assaults his girl friend after coming home drunk, telling her in no uncertain terms what he expects of a good girl friend. They are both here together today, she loves him, he gets off on probation and will have to join a course on anger management.

There’s the guy that threw a bottle out of a car at another driver and lucky for both did not cause any damage, there’s the guy who attacked a bouncer who didn’t want to let him into the club and there is the jealous boyfriend who bashed the guy who talked to his girlfriend.

It’s all alcohol. The judge starts another sermon. She mentions the maximum penalty everytime. She stresses the seriousness. She lets most of them off on probation and fills the anger management courses. Chance that they won’t do it again are below 40%, however, they most likely will not get caught.

A very sobering experience, should be compulsory life education.