Gross miscarriage of justices are being carried out on a daily basis because our system of investigation and justice has broken down. It has been re-designed to work as an administration system in that it just takes notes and records issues, holds inquiries and holds elections while they wait for their fat retirement cheques.

We need to get the focus on 'Procedural Fairness' as without that we have no hope as the system is under no obligation to do the right thing!

Jolanda - Education - Keeping them Honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/
Our Children Deserve better.

First I will say that I have met Patrick Power, I have observed him in court, acting as a skilled advocate for the crown (by the way people - that is you and me , anyone he put away he put away on our behalf).

No, knowing what I know now about this deeply flawed individual (and that is as kindly as I can put it) I would not write a reference for him. I consider that he deserves to do time in prison, but then again, I am a simple person, I believe that anyone who causes injury whilst breaking a traffic law should be imprisoned for GBH and everyone who causes a death on the roads whilst breaking the law - any law - should do at least 12 years for manslaughter.

Of course the author of the article here did time for armed robbery, well, I guess that he didn't do it, he must have been completely innocent, or maybe he had a difficult childhood, or maybe he belongs to the Neddy Smith school: (Neddy once writing that anyone that he killed deserved to be killed, so anyone the author robbed must have deserved to be robbed-). By the way, Patrick Power was one of several crowns to act as prosecutors in Neddy Smith trials – I guess according to this author Neddy should walk free now?

Yes, there are many miscarriages of justice, in that too many people get free on what many would consider technicalities. Too many people have their sentences shortened on the grounds of poor childhoods (poleeeeeze! what happened to individual responsibility?).

Just remember, the crown only ever has one go – if a jury finds an accused not guilty then the crown cannot appeal, if the Court of Criminal Appeal acquits, then the Crown cannot appeal, same with the High Court, If the crown drops the ball, then the guilty walk – into our lives.

Hamlet you are a FOOL.
Power put people away or at least one not for the crown
BUT FOR HIS PAEDOPHILE MATES.
As for your rant against the author he has paid his debt to society, and is now doing his job as journalist.

Welcome to the real world of the fascist labour States.
It is only a matter of time before a majority of the peasant class in this country wake up and realise what is going on under our very noses.
Any suggestion that a matter has gone before a properly constituted court is a result of ignorance as the judicial-system and the rule-of-law, we thought we had, has long gone and the alternative that has been surreptitiously replaced by the bureaucrats and the not so honourable members of the judiciary is so easy to now identify as the results and decisions are a sham.
The so called "courts-of-law " don’t exist as the Magistrates Court is a court of consent-jurisdiction with an as of right appeal to the alleged District-Court or review to the Qld Supreme-Court.
The Qld District-Court Act requires that this District-Court have a SEAL but it can't be used and it is not used because it does not exist and the illusion of a pretend court that is provided by our judiciary and bureaucrats is a TRIBUNAL, under the pretend seal of the office stamp, in which the rule-of-law does not apply and Govt Policy of the so called elected governing fascist regime prevails. If the lower court has no valid appeal process provided in a properly constituted appeal-court ( District-Court) the decisions are void but in Qld the decisions are enforced at the barrel of a gun by Beattie's armed SS, the Qld Police Service thugs.
The Qld Supreme-Court also does not exist in normal circumstances as the SEAL of the Supreme-Court of Queensland is also not used and this is done on the instructions of the Attorney-Generals Department, not Kerry Shine as these decisions are made buy people who have authority over him as well. The SEAL of the Supreme-Court of Queensland does exist as it was displayed on the certificate issued to Kevin Rudds daughter in the Supreme Court when she was admitted as a solicitor but you will never get it placed on your documents, not until you are dead.

alanpoi

You may want to look at these cases before you jump to judgement, look who the crown was in each case, and the nature of the matter:

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/1/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/2/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/3/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/4/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/5/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/6/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/7/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/26536925-9baa-4746-8f6d-9f796cc3313b/8/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/6a62318b-ad10-4744-acad-8413bd564e95/1/doc/

http://caselaw.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/isysquery/6a62318b-ad10-4744-acad-8413bd564e95/2/doc/

There are more -

are you saying that in each and every case Power was working on behalf of paedophiles? You may consider me to be a fool, but do you really consider that everyone in prison is innocent?

Yes, Power deserves gaol time, he has pleaded guilty, but isn't it a bit foolish to consider that all of the prosecutions that he has had a hand in resulted in misscarriages of justice?

It has become a facade when critics attempt to shoot the messenger rather than dissect the message. "The Forum is On Line Opinion's article discussion area" - an introduction discarded by Leigh and Hamlet who have personalised their criticism by focusing on me and/or my criminal record as opposed to the article I have written. Just for the record, over the last 4 years since I have been submitting articles OLO readers will be aware that I am an ex-prisoner.To those who don't - it's a fact. I am a convicted criminal who has served over 17-years for armed robbery. I am also a qualified freelance journalist. I studied journalism in prison and graduated with a journalism degree when I was released from prison. I have been published in national magazines, newspapers and books as wellas OLO. I was the first Australian ex-prisoner to be admitted into the Qld branch of the Australian Journalist Association and I am the first Australian ex-prisoner/freelance journalist to be shortlisted for three journalism awards in the 2004 Qld Media Awards-I won two of those awards. If anybody wants to know more about my criminal/prison life it is a matter of public record documented in my book Intractable published by Pan Macmillan in 2006. Leigh and Hamlet, and any others who want to "shoot the messenger" rather than dissect the message, it's now common knowledge that I am an ex-prisoner. Where do we go from here? You both can no longer anonymously hide behind cloaks of sanctimonious hypocrisy to throw personalised barbs at me in the hope of deflecting the real focus of my articles - a ploy that negates the intended purpose of the forum. I would also respectfully remind Leigh and Hamlet that Oscar Wilde, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1971 Nobel Literature prize winner), Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandella, and Henry Lawson were all convicted criminals in their own countries. Do you both suggest their writings be damned too because of their criminal records? Just a thought. cheers for now, bernie matthews.