I think that the handling of this case was appalling, but that said there are a couple of points worth noting:

- the use of the word "naughty". This appears to be a reasonably common term amongst remoter aboriginal communities for sexual abuse, particularly when talking to reasonably young people (say 15-25). I have heard it previously and in interviews with offenders

- a lot of the younger abusers (note that at least one of them in this case was 18, so fairly young himself), were themselves subject to abuse. Whilst this doesnt excuse their actions, it does put a bit more context to it.

- the system (DOCS etc) puts a lot of emphasis on how important it is for chldren to grow up in their own communities and cultures, PARTICULARLY for aboriginal children. This I think is a "white guilt" outcome of the stolen generation. There is such pressure not to have a repeat performance of this, that I have no doubt that the risks to the actual child get overlooked. The bottom line should be that one size doesnt fit all.

BD, please stay out of Koranic references. The Christian faith also accepted that young girls were capable of marriage and sexual relations as soon as they hit puberty. Social acceptance of this has long since changed and rightfully so. Stop stirring the pot unnecessarily.

Foxy, maybe you should also re-read my post. When I wrote that I like a laugh, I was referring to the label that you had given me but wouldn't reveal. I only inferred that I would have laughed at it as labels do not faze me. I've had many in the course of my life and, being non-Australian, have had a few here too.

As for your 'go ahead and laugh', surely you don't think that I'd laugh at what happened to your family at the hands of the Communists. I hope you weren't deliberately mis-reading my post,.

Also,you should never assume who has and hasn't suffered some kind of abuse or wrongdoing. You don't know me or my past, I don't know yours.

Again with 'racism'. Don't you realise that this term is almost always used for White abuse of Coloureds, very rarely the opposite?

When re-reading my posts, I couldn't find what you perceived as 'flippant'. Maybe you could elucidate?

Of course there is another factor to be considered here - how mant times has this happened without any investigation?

The fact that it happened is totally and utterly unacceptable and the events that followed afterwards are totally and utterly unacceptable.
As someone put it in the Australian if this had happened in Double Bay and it had gone to trial there the perpetrators would be inside even if the victim had 'encouraged' them and 'consented'. It is wrong in anyone's book.
The reality is that a ten year old is incapable of giving informed consent - and that's why we have laws to forbid such things. The other reality is that we need to stop having two legal systems. As someone else said in the Australian until we have one justice system and everyone is expected to abide by the same rules/law then there will be a division that no amount of 'sorry' can heal.
The case disgusts and revolts me - what chance has this child got - or so many others like her? The political activists demanding special consideration have one heck of a lot to answer for.

Communicat: "The case disgusts and revolts me - what chance has this child got - or so many others like her? The political activists demanding special consideration have one heck of a lot to answer for."

Actually YOU are the ones demanding special consideration and interfering with the independence of the judicial proceedings. Why? Because the case is heard and closed already. It's over. You are not the judge and were not present throughout the hearing. Decisions aren't made on how you feel on the behalf of the 'victim'. Your emotional plea is little more than what is called an appeal to emotion, a logical fallacy.

Steel, this case will never be over, not in a thousand lifetimes. It will never be over whilst women and young girls have to be raped all over again by a dysfunctional depraved system that has the audacity to refer to itself as a system of justice. I ask for whom does the system of justice serve? - certainly not the young girl that was raped. Nobody has to be there, no-one has to sit through the entire evidence to know that there is no way a young girl of 10 could ever give consensus to a pack rape. No woman in her right mind would ever consider such a thing. This kid was raped once and removed from the community, she might as well as been raped again by DOCS who put her back into a place of harm, she was raped a third time by a bunch of animals (I won't even insult decent men by calling them men) and then she was raped a fourth time by the judge, prosecutor etc in the so-called sentence. Every decent human being has the right to be outraged by the inexcusable miscarriage of justice that has been done here.
Yes, I'm emotional over this because I cannot for the life of me, how someone in this modern day and age impart such deranged miscarriage of so-called justice. And to think I thought that this attitude towards rape victims in courts had finally dissolved - well this shows it hasn't. Woe betide any rape victims who try to take their case to court - only to be raped all over again by the system. This is the main reason I didn't take my case to court - the hell of the first time was bad enough - let alone be raped by barristers and judges.