An Australian court on Wednesday favoured release of two teenage brothers, who spent less than a year in youth detention for racially assaulting a group of Indians, even as it termed the attack which left one of the victims with permanent brain injuries as “extraordinarily grave“.
Victorian County Court judge Christine Thornton said that because the two, aged 17 and 18, were “children” she should indicate that they would not be locked up again for the December 2008 incident, according to AAP.
However, Ms. Thornton described the assault as “extraordinarily grave“.
The re-sentencing of the two boys, who served less than a year in youth detention, is set to take place shortly after Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) appealed against their sentences.
As per the appeal system, Ms. Thornton is required to re-sentence the duo, even if she does not increase their jail terms, the report said.
The two brothers carried out an unprovoked attack in an Indian convenience store in Sunshine, where eight men were injured, including one who spent 15 days in coma and was left with permanent brain injuries.
Chief Crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC told the court that the older youth smashed 27-year old Sukhraj Singh with a piece of wood, leaving him unconscious and bleeding with multiple skull and face fractures.
Mr. Singh had been told his injuries were permanent and there was a chance he would suffer from epilepsy.
The younger brother is believed to have started the spat, asking the Indian men in the store if they were ‘Singh or Desi’, which the prosecution said was a racist remark.
Mr. Silbert said when the Indian men said they were “Singh boys”, he punched one of them without warning.
A group of four co-offenders, including his older brother, entered the store and caused mayhem, assaulting the victims and stealing a till containing several hundred dollars.
The assault was captured on CCTV and when the judge viewed it she said it was very serious attack.
The brothers were sentenced in the Children’s Court to 12 months in a youth detention, but were released early on parole.
The DPP asked the County Court to re-sentence the older brother to two and a half years and the younger to two years.
“There is a racial motive apparent in this,” Mr. Silbert told the court, adding “the culpability is relatively high.”
He also called the offence as “extraordinarily grave” and said “it was entirely unprovoked.”
“It was committed in company. It involved weapons,” Mr. Silbert said.
The DPP said that a 12-month sentence for the injuries caused were inadequate.
The offenders admitted charges of intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury and theft.
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Attacks on Indian students hit Australia’s education industry
Overseas student enrolments in Australian universities have taken a serious dive following a spate of attacks on Indian students here and the introduction of new amended immigration programme by the government.
There are now calls for a body to represent the interests of the entire private education sector of Australia to help repair the damage.
Andrew Smith, from the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, said there has been a drop of between 40 and 50 per cent in applications from South Asian countries, particularly India, ABC report said on Saturday.
“We’ve seen some fall away from the China market which is another key market but we are also seeing some increases in other markets and we expected over the course of this year, numbers overall will actually probably hold about the same,” he said
“There just won’t be anything like the rates of growth we’ve experienced in recent years,” he said.
However, he said Government’s changes to the skilled migration program are likely stunt growth in the education market. “There was a further suite of changes announced last week,” he said.
“The disappointing thing from our point of view was that those changes rely on a specialised occupation list being developing and that list is still several months away from being developed and released, which makes it very hard for businesses to plan, makes it very hard for prospective students to know what their options might be,” Mr. Smith said.
Industry and government are desperate to restore confidence in Australia as a safe place for quality education.
Rod Jones from the Navitas education provider said that while there is plenty of goodwill, he feared the effort to repair Australia’s reputation is uncoordinated and a new umbrella body should be set up for it.
“It is the third or fourth largest export industry for this country and it seems really quite amazing that there is not a body that’s looking to try and coordinate from a government perspective, the best possible outcome for this country in terms of delivering both additional export dollars but taking a view about the long—term future and strategy of how we should best manage this industry as we move forward,” he said.
Smith said it could be something along the lines of Tourism Australia.
“This is a significant industry — it needs the support and it needs the strategic approach that will see us take this industry to the next step,” he said.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Brand Australia suffering from attacks on Indian students: Minister
Brand Australia has suffered following attacks on Indian students in the past nine months and this will cause long-term damage if not attended to, says a visiting Australian minister.
“The attacks (on Indian students) have hurt us in terms of perception about Australia and that’s why our law enforcement agencies have been so committed to pursuing arrests and prosecution and have been successful in some instances for long-term imprisonment. There have been 67 prosecutions in recent times,” Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson told IANS in an interview here.
Mr. Ferguson said that the Australian government was not taking these attacks lightly and will do everything possible to curb the criminal acts.
“Of course if you don’t attend to these difficulties then they will do us long-term damage. Historically one of the attractions of Australia is that it’s a safe welcoming society...it’s very much such a society,” said the minister who has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Batman, a constituency in Melbourne, which has been the epicentre of recent attacks.
“My constituency is close to central Melbourne and there are people from 150 different countries. It a harmonious local community and there are very few places in the world where you get people from so many different countries living together and working together,” said the 57-year-old Australian Labour Party member.
“My constituency is a prime example of society in Australia. But I also have a significant number of young university students living in my electorate, in universities of Melbourne and Trobe who are very much devoting their energy and applying their minds to educational opportunities,” he said.
The spate of attacks on Indians in Australia has caused an outcry in India. One of the vicious attacks proved fatal.
The minister said steps needed to be taken to ensure quality education to Indian students at affordable cost.
“I think it is fair to say that in terms of vocational education and some English language courses, we have to attend to some issues to make sure that young Indian students get a quality education opportunity and are capable of paying for it without spending too much time working rather than applying their minds to educational requirements,” he said.
According to the minister, one of the major causes of attacks on Indian students is that they live in crime-prone suburbs and work in late shifts to survive in the country.
“There has been a 27 percent increase in the number of students in 2008-09 from the previous year. There has been tension in Victoria (the province of which Melbourne is the capital). More than 50 percent Indian students actually go there. The real problem we had is with respect to some of the students living in some of the suburbs which historically had high instances of criminality,” Mr. Ferguson said.
“They work in service stations, fast food outlets, take shift jobs at all hours of night, which is when criminality occurs. In some ways their lifestyle has put them in the frontline of attacks. We tried some laws in Victoria, we have put more police and we have got them to do random checks on people,” he added.
“The attacks (on Indian students) have hurt us in terms of perception about Australia and that’s why our law enforcement agencies have been so committed to pursuing arrests and prosecution and have been successful in some instances for long-term imprisonment. There have been 67 prosecutions in recent times,” Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson told IANS in an interview here.
Mr. Ferguson said that the Australian government was not taking these attacks lightly and will do everything possible to curb the criminal acts.
“Of course if you don’t attend to these difficulties then they will do us long-term damage. Historically one of the attractions of Australia is that it’s a safe welcoming society...it’s very much such a society,” said the minister who has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Batman, a constituency in Melbourne, which has been the epicentre of recent attacks.
“My constituency is close to central Melbourne and there are people from 150 different countries. It a harmonious local community and there are very few places in the world where you get people from so many different countries living together and working together,” said the 57-year-old Australian Labour Party member.
“My constituency is a prime example of society in Australia. But I also have a significant number of young university students living in my electorate, in universities of Melbourne and Trobe who are very much devoting their energy and applying their minds to educational opportunities,” he said.
The spate of attacks on Indians in Australia has caused an outcry in India. One of the vicious attacks proved fatal.
The minister said steps needed to be taken to ensure quality education to Indian students at affordable cost.
“I think it is fair to say that in terms of vocational education and some English language courses, we have to attend to some issues to make sure that young Indian students get a quality education opportunity and are capable of paying for it without spending too much time working rather than applying their minds to educational requirements,” he said.
According to the minister, one of the major causes of attacks on Indian students is that they live in crime-prone suburbs and work in late shifts to survive in the country.
“There has been a 27 percent increase in the number of students in 2008-09 from the previous year. There has been tension in Victoria (the province of which Melbourne is the capital). More than 50 percent Indian students actually go there. The real problem we had is with respect to some of the students living in some of the suburbs which historically had high instances of criminality,” Mr. Ferguson said.
“They work in service stations, fast food outlets, take shift jobs at all hours of night, which is when criminality occurs. In some ways their lifestyle has put them in the frontline of attacks. We tried some laws in Victoria, we have put more police and we have got them to do random checks on people,” he added.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Indian High Commissioner to meet officials in Queensland
Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh is set to hold talks with Queensland’s senior police and community leaders over the ongoing attacks on Indians in this Australian state.
Media reports said Queensland’s political leaders have defended Australia saying it is not a racist country.
The comments came after report of the Indian High Commissioner would attend a meeting with senior police and community leaders in the state.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she believed that the country was a very tolerant and encompassing community.
“But racism from time to time does rear its ugly head,” she said.
Brisbane City Council Mayor Campbell Newman also agreed to the view, saying at an Australia Day event that he did not believe Australia was a racist country.
Media reports said Queensland’s political leaders have defended Australia saying it is not a racist country.
The comments came after report of the Indian High Commissioner would attend a meeting with senior police and community leaders in the state.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she believed that the country was a very tolerant and encompassing community.
“But racism from time to time does rear its ugly head,” she said.
Brisbane City Council Mayor Campbell Newman also agreed to the view, saying at an Australia Day event that he did not believe Australia was a racist country.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Police replicate Nitin Garg's final moments to nab his killers
The Australian police have retraced slain Indian student Nitin Garg’s final moments in a bid to nab his killers who stabbed him to death at West Foorscray, Melbourne, on January 2, while he was on his way to work.
Victorian homicide squad detectives returned to Yarraville to retrace the 21-year-old’s last steps. Garg, a permanent Australian resident, staggered into the outlet with stab wounds before collapsing.
On Saturday, a man wearing similar jacket as Garg retraced his movements walking from the Yarraville Railway Station and cut across CJ Cruickshank Park along a metre-wide dirt path on the eastern side of the park to the Hungry Jack’s restaurant to replicate Garg’s last known movements over a 24-minute period.
"It might just jog the memory of anyone (there) that evening over anything that may be significant,” the Herald Sun quoted Detective Senior Sergeant David Snare, as saying.
Snare described progress in the investigation as steady.
He appealed to anyone in the area of the park on January 2 between 9.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. to contact police.
However, Mr. Snare said it was inappropriate and premature to suggest the attack may have been racially motivated.
He said operational matters were behind the decision to wait three weeks before re-enacting Garg’s final moments.
Garg’s murder follows recent attacks on Indians in Melbourne that have put Australia’s multi-billion-dollar international student sector at risk.
Indian student enrolments have fallen 46 per cent across the country in recent months, while international student enrolments are down by 20 per cent overall.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Attacks on Indians "regrettable"
Amid allegations of racism in Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday said the recent attacks on Indian youths were “regrettable” but insisted that these should be seen in the context of broader incidences of violence against locals and students of other ethnic groups.
“Regrettably, there have been some incidents recently, let’s accept that, but let’s put it into context, and also in the context of, let’s call it, the broader incidences of violence to students of other ethnic backgrounds, acts of violence against Australian students, acts of violence in particular parts of our large cities at any given time of the day,” Mr. Rudd told reporters in Adelaide.
“I think it’s important to keep all this into its context,” he said, adding “Obviously these are difficult matters in India; they are difficult matters in Australia.”
Nearly 100 cases of attacks on Indians, mostly students, were reported in Australia in 2009 as against 17 incidents of assaults in 2008.
“We are working through them in a practical and effective way over time,” Mr. Rudd said.
About 100,000 Indians were currently studying in Australia.
“The truth is this: the vast majority of Indian students in Australia are embraced entirely by the Australian community, get on with their business of studying hard, getting their qualifications and going off to do whatever they want to do with their lives,” he added.
“Regrettably, there have been some incidents recently, let’s accept that, but let’s put it into context, and also in the context of, let’s call it, the broader incidences of violence to students of other ethnic backgrounds, acts of violence against Australian students, acts of violence in particular parts of our large cities at any given time of the day,” Mr. Rudd told reporters in Adelaide.
“I think it’s important to keep all this into its context,” he said, adding “Obviously these are difficult matters in India; they are difficult matters in Australia.”
Nearly 100 cases of attacks on Indians, mostly students, were reported in Australia in 2009 as against 17 incidents of assaults in 2008.
“We are working through them in a practical and effective way over time,” Mr. Rudd said.
About 100,000 Indians were currently studying in Australia.
“The truth is this: the vast majority of Indian students in Australia are embraced entirely by the Australian community, get on with their business of studying hard, getting their qualifications and going off to do whatever they want to do with their lives,” he added.
