Jeremy Fernandez Should Have The Legal Power To Have Thrown His Tormentor Off The Bus Himself

Harking back to “the good old days”, when “things were better” is a common caricature of older right wingers. However, there are some aspects of our society and its rules (written and unwritten) which have definitely degenerated.

It used to be that if a troublemaker began behaving in an aggressive and confrontational manner, at least one bloke present would take it upon themselves to summarily sort the problem out. Moreover, said bloke would have been inculcated with the ethic that the “sorting out” must be proportionate to the trouble.

The specific incident which prompted this post is the racial abuse of ABC newsreader, Jeremy Fernandez on a bus to Marrickville.

What should have happened in a sane, liberal society is this:

The bus driver should have stopped the bus, walked down and asked what was going on. After briefly listening to both sides, anyone with even half a brain could have worked out that Jeremy Fernandez had done nothing wrong and had, in fact shown a level of restraint which many would not.

The driver should have then ordered the woman off the bus. Had she refused to go, he should have physically thrown her off, followed by her two brats. If he didn’t feel comfortable doing that, Jeremy Fernandez or another physically capable passenger should have felt sufficiently confident in the righteousness of their actions to have done it instead.

There were ways to remove the woman from the bus without actually physically throwing her off. For example, pick up her handbag and throw it out the door when the bus stopped. The driver could have said: “I’m driving off now. Whether you want your bag back is up to you.”

Any subsequent complaint by the woman to either the police or Sydney Buses should have resulted in brief interviews with Fernandez and the driver, then the matter deemed closed.

Had the woman refused to get off the bus and no-one felt sufficiently confident to throw her off, at the very least, the driver should have told the woman that he was radioing police to come and meet the bus, then told Fernandez to come and sit near him until then.

What actually happened was this:

The bus driver told Jeremy Fernandez to either move or get off the bus, then told him the situation was his own fault. He did nothing to stop the woman’s harassment of another passenger; he didn’t even report the incident by radio and ask for advice.

The real problem here is that our society has become so infected with a culture of lies, complaint, false victimhood and grifting that law abiding citizens resile from taking appropriate physical action to protect their wellbeing and amenity, for fear of the unpredictable outcome in a bankrupt justice system.

I feel a lot of sympathy for Jeremy Fernandez, being a public figure in that situation. Suppose he had manhandled the scummy bitch off the bus and she subsequently made an assault complaint, plus repeated the allegations about touching her daughter. The police may well have pursued at least the assault. The matter would probably have made the press, where the woman may well have publicly reiterated her dishonest allegations re touching her daughter.

On top of the financial cost of defending himself and the emotional stress to his family, Fernandez’ reputation would have been traduced. Faced with this possibility, he obviously felt sitting there and taking this shit from an absolute dreg of society was preferable. Additionally, no-one else ever wants to get involved, lest they face accusations themselves.

That is not right. Anyone faced with such behaviour should have the legal right to use appropriate physical force to remove or otherwise silence the troublemaker. If they are incapable of defending themselves, any citizen should have the right to step in and do it for them. Citizens should not have their time wasted or their amenity unreasonably curtailed by being required to wait for the police to arrive to deal with minor matters. Nor should they be required to “turn the other cheek”.

That is how society used to see things … and should again. As for physical force against a woman: you lose your right to be “treated like a lady” when you stop behaving like one.

Section 418 2(a) of the NSW Crimes Act deals with self defence. Unfortunately, all it says is that a person may use reasonable force to defend themselves or others. Against what is not clear.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, as taking an evolutionary approach to the construction of law via common law generally gives better outcomes than a constructivist approach via statute, where every minutia of what is and is not legal must be spelt out.

However, in this case, I suggest s418(2)(a) should state that it is lawful for a person to use reasonable physical force to defend themselves against any crime. That includes s529 - Criminal Defamation (or its equivalent in other states), which all citizens should read and know.

By calling him a paedophile (and a black one, no less!), this woman has criminally defamed Jeremy Fernandez. She should be prosecuted as an example to all others who seek to deal with conflict by telling malicious lies.

There is actually provision in the current law for Fernandez or the bus driver to have dealt with the situation physically: either could have made a citizen’s arrest. However, citizens cannot detain others, then let them go. If you make a citizen’s arrest, you must defer to the police as soon as practically possible … and they will determine the validity of your arrest, with charges of assault and deprivation of liberty ensuing if you are in the wrong.

That’s not what society needs: citizens arresting each other for offensive language / conduct or criminal defamation.

Why should the bus have to be stopped and everyone on it inconvenienced to wait for the police to arrive to deal with such a matter? This woman deserves no more respect than something I’d find under my shoe.

A liberal society should expand the notion of self defence to ensure the right to stand one’s ground and to use appropriate force to protect oneself and others from any criminal act, including threats, harassment and defamation. S419 of the Crimes Act already makes it clear that in claims of self defence, the onus of proof is on the prosecution to prove otherwise.

It essentially comes down to the right and level of legal power of citizens to remove a fuckwit from their presence, with minimal interruption to their planned activities. To force citizens to call the police, then waste time waiting for them to arrive and sort the matter out is itself unjust. To that, add the additional risk of the perpetrator making a false counter complaint and the police doing nothing, or worse, arresting the victim.

That is precisely the type of injustice which flourishes in a nanny state, ruled by lawyers and bureaucrats, where fear of the random consequences of action causes docile citizens to allow “the appropriate authorities” to (not) sort out conflicts.

Extending the scope of the right to self defence as above and retaining the s419 onus of proof on the prosecution is what a liberal society should do. Citizens do not have to demand these civil rights: it is us who determine the rules by which we agree to be governed. That we are over-governed is only due to our consistent failure to organize and prevent it.

If bouncers, many of whom are moronic thugs, have the legal right to use physical force in order to remove troublemakers from pubs, how can law abiding citizens not have the same rights to remove troublemakers from trains, buses, shops etc?