Should a yobbo who gets pissed, grabs a girl’s arse in McDonalds, tells her “If she doesn’t like it, she shouldn’t dress like a slut”, then continues abusing her and her friends be allowed to hold a security licence and work as a bouncer?
No! Imagine what this moron would get up to working the door of a nightclub or pub if he thought he could get away with it.
Magistrate Linda Bradford-Morgan did the right thing in rejecting Theron Turner’s application to have no conviction recorded. He should lose his security licence. Pub and nightclub patrons shouldn’t have to put up with dumb, aggressive, fuckwit bouncers abusing their positions via pathetic attempts at power trips. One less is a small improvement, but at least it’s in the right direction.
Additionally, the police did the right thing in only charging Turner with public nuisance. His actions were a (minor) assault and technically there was some indecency, since he pursued a sexual angle in what he said to the girl. However, an indecent assault charge would have been excessive, since such a conviction (or even charge) has connotations that are significantly more grubby, pervy and serious than a drunk grabbing a girl’s bum.
Labelled a public nuisance, can’t work as security staff. Probably a fair outcome.
Sensible application of the law in the more frequent, less serious criminal offences is arguably as important in maintaining community confidence in the legal system as how the law deals with headlines cases. The legal system cannot be seen as casuistry divorced from everyday beliefs, or hijacked by moral panic or particular political interests.
Minor offenders need to be arrested and prosecuted, however the police and courts mustn't overreact. People can't have their lives ruined over relatively minor offences, but perhaps in certain circumstances, it is reasonable they be excluded from some types of employment which involve authority and trust.
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