In 1998, Judge Leo Hart sentenced Colin George McKane to a 9 year prison term for the abduction and molestation of a 10 year old girl he snatched off the street. Because he was such a dangerous threat to society, the Public Prosecutor pleaded with Judge Hart to send him to prison and keep him there indefinitely but the judge refused. He thought that keeping him in jail indefinitely was too harsh and instead, gave him a five year supervision order which apparently, isn't worth the paper its printed on.
As soon as he got out, he found pictures of children in a Melbourne paper and got their phone numbers out of the phone book. Two young girls and a 10 year old boy were traumatized when he rang them and asked for phone sex.
This week, he's had another 9 months tacked onto his sentence for breaching that supervision order and will begin serving his latest sentence next January.
Judges are supposed to protect the public from people like Colin McKane who started grabbing children at random since the age of 15. Soon after being released from prison for raping a 9 year old girl, he kidnapped a 16 year old girl, knocked her out, raped her and left her for dead on a beach. He came back later with a shovel and police believe he intended to bury her, dead or alive.
Colin McKane has no intention of being rehabilitated and has refused all prison sex-therapy programs.
We have a stupid law that says we must protect pedophiles from victimization by hiding their identity. McKane's defence lawyer Helen Spowart asked for his name to be suppressed but this time, it was denied. The judge ruled there was not enough evidence to assume his life was in danger.
In the Northern Territory, 23 year old Shane Tennyson raped a 3 year old girl and was given a minimum prison term of five years. The DPP has started an appeal against the judge's decision but they shouldn't have to, it's his job to protect our children and he's failing in his duty. And in this case, there were no excuses for leniency because Tennyson has been convicted three times for child rape in 5 years and as soon as he was released in 2011, he raped the three year old.
Our judges have got to stop giving serial pedophiles light sentences and if they refuse rehabilitation sex therapy programs in prison, they should stay there until they do.
I remember when he raped the nine year old, I was eight & it happened a few blocks from my house & a family member stopped it, he lived a few houses away from us and had already done time for raping my neighbours daughter. I could not understand the reason why he ever got out back then and now with a law degree behind me, I am even more baffled.
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