Muamba Appeal Dismissed

simulatorman said:
Not seen anything but this blog has some stuff with regard to sentencing guidelines and the appeal:

http://obiterj.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/you-be-judge-was-56-days-imprisonment.html
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Was 56 days imprisonment justified for Mr Stacey? * You be the judge !!* I think it is difficult to square with the guidelines but, given that the District Judge referred to public outrage, he may well have had deterrence in mind as an objective in sentencing and there can be no doubt that the "tweets" were particularly objectionable.* The judge referred to them as "vile and abhorrent comment about a young footballer who was fighting for his life" and also added that Stacey needed to learn how to handle alcohol better.* I think there is force in the view that Stacey might have benefited more from undertaking a high level community penalty (e.g. a stiff number of hours of unpaid work) and this might have also benefited society more than his imprisonment and, in this event, Stacey could have been ordered to pay an appropriate contribution to the costs of the case.* It is understood that Stacey now faces a disciplinary hearing at Swansea University where he was studying biology.* For him, this offence is likely to have lifetime repercussions.
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Basically a momentary alcohol fuelled lack of good sense has adversely affected this young chaps life, probably forever, at least for the next decade.

How is that in the public interest?
 
Gooner14 said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/30/fabrice-muamba-twitter-loses-appeal
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It wasn't for 'violent' disorder. It was for 'behaviour likely to cause distress, harassment or alarm to others'.......in other words what every teenager gets up to on a Saturday at least once if not more......

And a PND is NOT a Criminal Conviction.

http://www.btp.police.uk/passengers/advice_and_information/penalty_notice_for_disorder.aspx

Will the PND give me a criminal record?

A PND is not a conviction therefore it will not result in a criminal record. A record of the notice will be kept for administration purposes. The information may be used to help decide whether or not to issue you with another PND in relation to any subsequent offences for which such notices may be issued. However, please note that if you fail to pay the PND or request a hearing, legal action taken against you can result in a criminal record.
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It still doesn't justify a custodial sentence for posting generic racist terms on twitter.......
 
You can find most of it on youtube and I have to admit to being quite surprised by the ferocity of his tweets.

Whilst I think what he said was awful, really bad and any right minded person would challenge it, I'm not sure putting him in prison for it is the right way to fix it.

Either way I think it's more more a sad reflection of our society where you have to make such visible examples of people and put them in prison to show society at large that you can't do that sort of thing. It should just be obvious.

However, having read it, he is clearly a violent racist thug so I don't really give a stuff if his life is impacted negatively. Good, there's no place for people like him in a civil society, the biggest shame is you could probably hear that sort of thing in hundreds, thousands of houses/pubs/workplaces.
 
Undeterred said:
I have removed the link. However can a mod please confirm whether the link can be posted I'd be most grateful. It is an official transcript after all?
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Unfortunately here it could only be edited excerpts posted because of the language. General rule being that if you link to inappropriate material then it is the same as if you'd posted it yourself on the forum.
 
Just search the idiots name on google and it links you to a youtube video where someone has kindly recorded the pages and saved it for everyone to view what a total scumbag he is.
 
Castiel said:
in other words what every teenager gets up to on a Saturday at least once if not more......
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Yes, I can only speak for myself, but it takes a lot for me to actually arrest for S5. I will give ample chances for someone to avoid me having to take action. The problem with this guy is he did it in such a public place (the interwebs)

olivier renault said:
If you had one, you would know.
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If I had a constitution? I hate to break this to you, but although contrary to popular belief, I'm not an evil state dictator.

I think you need to read up on what a constitution is ;)
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Yes, I can only speak for myself, but it takes a lot for me to actually arrest for S5. I will give ample chances for someone to avoid me having to take action. The problem with this guy is he did it in such a public place (the interwebs)
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agreed, but I question the Public Interest in a custodial sentence....it does seem that the media has influenced the court in some way.

I think that by giving a custodial sentence to this kid they have only limited his life choices and have acted contrary to the public interest in doing so, a non custodial sentence along the lines of a strict Reparation sentence along with a fine and the consideration of a probationary period would have better served both the public and the individual.

For me, the custodial sentence has not addressed the rehabilitation of the offender, it has potentially created a situation where the offender will find it vastly more difficult to make suitable life choices to be a successful and productive member of society....the mere fact that he will have to declare his imprisonment for the next 7 years will limit his choices even if he retains his place at university or is able to gain another if not.....a community order would be several years shorter and less likely to impact on his education and vastly increase his chances of rehabilitation in the long term.
 
As I mentioned in the other thread - The guy is clearly a moron and a racist, but I still don't believe this long of a sentence (or any jail sentence for that matter) is necessary in this instance.
 
Castiel said:
agreed, but I question the Public Interest in a custodial sentence....it does seem that the media has influenced the court in some way.
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I think the public outcry, and subsequent media coverage, is very relevant to a public order offence. S5 is all about people being harassed alarmed or distressed, and the more people this affects the more serious the particular instance of the offence is. With so many people being distressed by the comments, the judge needs to sentence on the higher end of the scale.

I can't really rebut your other comments on rehabilitation as I don't know the guy enough to say what is appropriate.
 
Ahh the public order act one of my favourites for complete abuse of power :o is funny when the police drag the silly twits off for not leaving it and walking away.
 
Either way you look at it (whether the tweets were racial or not), the fact is the idiot still goaded about a human being who could have potentially died from their collapse. He showed no remorse for his words. Plain and simple he didn't care what he said and no matter how many people tried to make him see the error of his ways, he still continued.

Perhaps nigh on 2 months prison sentance is a bit much, but if you ask me, he had it coming to him. Nice of him to try and appeal. But, let this be a lesson to him.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I think the public outcry, and subsequent media coverage, is very relevant to a public order offence. S5 is all about people being harassed alarmed or distressed, and the more people this affects the more serious the particular instance of the offence is. With so many people being distressed by the comments, the judge needs to sentence on the higher end of the scale.

I can't really rebut your other comments on rehabilitation as I don't know the guy enough to say what is appropriate.
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Maybe, I still feel that the Public Interest was not fully considered in the sentence.

As for the other comments I made on rehabilitation, I was following what the Court accepted as mitigation, including the acceptance that the offender was of normally good character etc......
 
Has that racist bus rant woman been in court yet? Whilst I have no sympathy for this guy and would happily have seen him given longer, she should definitely get longer!
 
Castiel said:
Maybe, I still feel that the Public Interest was not fully considered in the sentence.
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I would disagree with you there. Like I've said in the other thread, I think sending a strong message helps the case for justifying the public interest test.


Castiel said:
As for the other comments I made on rehabilitation, I was following what the Court accepted as mitigation, including the acceptance that the offender was of normally good character etc......
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I really haven't read enough about the case and the evidence presented to form any informed opinion here, so I'm sorry I can't debate that point.
 
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