It’s tragically happened again in the world’s most liveable, progressive utopia:
“A 27-year-old man has appeared in court charged with what police describe as a “horrendous bashing” murder of a woman whose body was found in a major Melbourne park.
Courtney Herron, 25, was found dead by dogwalkers near a pile of logs in Royal Park, in Parkville just north of the CBD, about 9:25am on Saturday. Henry Hammond was arrested and interviewed on Sunday, and homicide squad detectives charged him with one count of murder overnight.
Mr Hammond, 27 and of no fixed address, made a brief appearance at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this morning and was remanded in custody until September.”
Victoria Police blamed all
men:
“Nonetheless, he acknowledged the
enormous community concern after a spate of killings of women in public places
over the past 12 months.
“Certainly there have been instances in our recent past where women have been attacked and they have been attacked by men,” Mr Cornelius said.
“The key point is [that] this is about men’s behaviour, it’s not about women’s behaviour.
“Every time I hear about a woman being attacked – for me as a man – it gives me some pause for reflection about what it is in our community that makes men think it’s OK to attack women, or take what they want from women,” he said.”
Looks like Lisa Wilkinson is writing press releases for Victoria Police now. Pathetic.
Yes, Australia is generally a safe country but even that reputation is on the decline as we see everyday examples about the violent crime infesting the country. And reputation matters little in the heat of the moment of a violent crime encounter.
As we’ve said before, tragedies like this are just going to keep happening especially as the economy gets worse. Criminals know their victims are defenceless and have the upper hand – they want prey not a fight. Sure, situational awareness, training and all that are relevant to self-defence. However, right now you’re a legally enforced victim and you don’t even have the choice to carry anything.
Self-defence is a useless right without access to the legal means. So why can’t we at least start with pepper spray for law-abiding citizens?
Pepper spray in WA is legal but the legalities concerning it’s carriage and use is a grey area. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MLC Jeff Bourman attempted to get pepper spray over the line in Victoria during the last government, but was voted down.
There’s no reason we can’t at least have non-lethal items for the purpose of self-defence, other than inane authoritarianism and the usual shrill cries of idiots who think that violent criminals who already have access to whatever they want, will inevitably get their hands on it.
By the way, wasp spray doesn’t work so this myth needs to stop being perpetuated:
If we could cut through all the predictable schtick – the patronising lectures towards men, promises of funding for non-tangible causes and all the other superfluous nonsense that usually happens when tragedies like these occur – and implement practical self-defence options to give people a fighting chance instead of being beaten to death, that would be great.
If we do something as reasonable as allowing non lethal self defence methods, then the Media and Politicians wont be able to hand wring and blame everyone, – so self defence – never gonna happen.
Favourite quote from USA “I would rather be judged by 12, than carried by 6”.