rehctub, I'm sure that the judge had more options than to put Ferguson in the 'too hard basket' and let him off without establishing whether he was guilty or not. That was a total cop-out. If you don't get that, I can't help you.

You half answered me when you wrote that you do have kids. You conveniently never stated how you would feel if they were molested. If the molester was caught, would you uphold his rights for a fair trial etc? Maybe campaign for him to be given legal aid?

This 'man who served his time ' has proven to be a repeat offender of heinious crimes, not a one-off shoplifter or petty criminal who can be slotted back into society.

As for the media coverage, while you are partly right in its effect, I have no power over it. Also, there have been similar crimes go virtually unpunished in the absence of media awareness.

If that's being narrow-sighted, my eyes must be touching.

Examinator “without conflict the site would be boring.”

There is a difference between dissent and conflict.

And certainly, without dissent, the site would be boring.

The difference between dissent and conflict is in the recognition that ones dissenters are entitled to express their view. I tend to leave the conflict for those who rubbish my right of dissent.

“a seemingly emotionally regressive response”

I do not see the deployment of the death penalty as necessarily regressive nor my support for it particularly emotional.

From my post I hope you would have observed I not only defend personal liberty (hence my support for abortion and the belief that the individual is the pinnacle of society, not the other way around).
Supporting personal liberty does, however, come with its own burden (or price), that of responsibility and respect for the rights of others.

Here we can focus on the unique difference in defining “Others” and also your observation to my analysis between a preganant woman and the fetus:

Obviously Dennis Ferguson is separate to his victims, who are “others” and for whom he displays no respect or consideration;

whereas the pregnant woman is inseparable from the embryo/fetus and thus the fetus/embryo is not an “Other” but is part of the same.

cheers

CR

Dickie

"Seemingly, those who seek a "fair go" for Ferguson ... apparently remain unperturbed that, prior to his 14 years incarceration, he had five previous convictions for child molestation.

I'm not arguing his guilt or innocence regarding the latest round of alleged offences. I'll leave that judgement to people who have all the evidence in front of them. But I will make the point that 14 years of being incarcerated (and presumably undergoing some sort of rehabilitation) is a long time, and that the five convictions prior to that period are not in themselves an indicator that he would have offended since.

"It is a waste of time endeavouring to portray Ferguson as an illiterate under-dog. Ferguson is articulate, cunning and manipulative."

If Ferguson were at all articulate I don't think he'd be where he is today. As we've seen here, there are lots of words to describe him and I agree with many of them, but I certainly don't think 'articulate' is one of them.

Hi Bronwyn

I do agree that 14 years incarceration is a long time but one needs to bear in mind that Ferguson molested not one, but three children. As a result, I do not believe the punishment was severe.

Ferguson is not rehabilitated. Prior to participation in any prison programmes available to sex offenders, the prisoner must first acknowledge his guilt. Ferguson has refused rehabilitation and has at all times, claimed his innocence with the exception of pleading guilty to breaching his parole conditions.

Five prior convictions to the kidnapping charge, is indicative of a habitual criminal. When a sex offender relapses five times (or rather, five that we know of,) he is a recidivist criminal and is regarded as such in criminal law. Without any rehabilitation, I believe five (now 6) convictions would be a strong indicator of re-offending.

A police video of an interview with the two young girls Ferguson allegedly assaulted was shown to the court prior to the trial aborting. Both claimed that Ferguson “touched” them while their Mother was present though she was in another room with Ferguson’s two friends. Ferguson had visited the woman with the "intention" of forming a partnership in a cleaning business. I find it rather curious that he brought along two friends?

Perhaps my use of the word “articulate” was inappropriate. "Plausible" may be better but then again when one considers some of the quotes attributed to this man, perhaps not:

Helen Daly reported that Ferguson “gave qualified support for the new law saying there were some sex criminals who could re-offend on release.

“He claimed he hasn't re-offended and advised the law didn't apply to him because he had done nothing wrong in the first place. He also claimed it's impossible to be honest within the jail sex therapy groups as he felt they're unsafe and one-sided.”

I have no clear "humane" ideas what on earth can we do with the likes of Peter Feregusson.

But,guys, tell me, why is he and other paedophiles who are all so equally reprehenive any different from predatory priests in the Roman Catholic and Anglical church? These monsters have been ,masquerading as men of God and molesting little ones and when found out there have been denials by church authorities and perehaps the worst punishment has been a sly side-ways movement to another parish without telling the people of those communities why they are suddenly getting a new priest and the molestations have been allowed to continue.WHY?
Now that action has been taking place there are hundreds of parishes in the USA that have gone broke and shut down as reparations have been awarded against them.Cardinal Law has been the worst at concealing these monsters. He had to be recalled to Rome to get a dressing down bythe Pope.Recently in both Western Austyralian and in the eastern States new evidence is coming out at the sinful cover-ups and the trerribly transparent excuses of forgetting.The two cardinals involved,Hickey and Pell must think we are awfully gullible! They are guilty of culpability and obstruction of justice but will they be brought to trial? They are criminals!
If we are wondering what to do about Fergusson we should also be having to wonder what we should do about these renegade monsters of the cloth and purple skullcaps.How are they any different?

socratease

contd.....

In another press interview he stated: "Truly, I don't know. I'm the flavour of the month right now. But in two hours' time, something might come up to divert their (the media's) attention."

And: "Now, I had not had sex with any of the children. I never did and I truly did not know the girl was in bed naked," he said.

Ferguson was sufficiently articulate to represent himself in court after his defence barrister quit (reasons unknown.) I hasten to add though, that one newspaper reported his performance as "theatrical."

Dr Bill Kingswell, Queensland psychiatrist claims: "Paedophilia is a disorder of sexual preference. This is not a mental disorder. A person has a sexual interest. It probably lasts their whole life. The issue here is trying to have these people conform their behaviour to law."

Dr Kingswell told a court hearing that “paedophiles do not change their spots.”

Happily, Dr Kingswell's opinion is not disimilar to my own layman's assessment where I have often asserted that paedophilia is no more a mental disorder than heterosexuality or homosexuality.

Many paedophiles do not sexually penetrate their victims, either from a fear of physically harming them or a desire to avoid detection. Ferguson's sexual vileness prevents me from affording him any compassion. I remain unconcerned that his civil liberties have been violated.

Sexual deviates who prey on the defenceless or the vulnerable – those who like to harm others for sexual gratification are criminals and must be held accountable - particularly the likes of Ferguson who continually laments that it is he who is the victim.

This paedophile has categorically refused any counselling - counselling which could have assisted in mitigating the irreparable harm he has perpetrated on his hapless young victims over the decades.