The Sydney Morning Herald
June 19, 2001
Letters: Women do not have a monopoly on truth, even in
court
Date: 19/06/2001
The NSW Chief Magistrate, Pat Staunton, has decided to refer Pat O'Shane's
remarks to the Judicial Commission. I think she is getting a
little carried away. It should be left to prosecuting attorneys to decide if
they would want Ms O'Shane to stand down from a rape
hearing.
However, it is ironic that within a week of undermining the integrity of female
witnesses by saying "in my experience a lot of women
manufacture a lot of stories about sexual assault", Ms O'Shane is levelling her
own accusation against a NSW judge for racist, sexist and
homophobic statements.
One wonders how "relaxed and comfortable" she would feel if the person who was
to adjudicate on her appeal was on the record as
having said "in my experience a lot of female magistrates manufacture a lot of
stories about male magistrates".
David Rowell, Dunoon, June 18.
Pat O'Shane is right! After more than 10 years of legal practice, I have found
that not all women tell the truth, women sometimes invent
stories of assault, and Koori women sometimes tell tales for a political
purpose.
Women do not have a monopoly on truth and to criticise Pat O'Shane for saying
this shows just how much feminists and their apologists
have lost the plot. It's a shame feminists have foolishly provided support for
the establishment's longstanding attempts to get rid of Pat
O'Shane.
I am a woman. I'd be lynched if I was a bloke saying this.
A. Cripps Clark, Gundarimbah, June 17.
I don't know what planet Pat O'Shane has been living on but in the real world
the number of women who have invented stories about
rape is exceeded many thousands of time by the number of women who have not
reported it because of the humiliation, the fear of
retribution, or because they were uncertain of their rights.
And while we're on the subject, this is an issue of "law reform" the noisy
feminists ought to be taking up instead of the pointless causes
they usually latch on to.
Bob Vinnicombe, Sefton, June 17.
Pat O'Shane is an intelligent, successful, Aboriginal woman. And if that is not
bad enough she is courageous, outspoken and often holds a
minority point of view. Get rid of her!
G. Telfer, Cordeaux Heights, June 16.
The uproar over Pat O'Shane's recent comment about the incidence of women lying
to get men in trouble indicates the degraded level to
which political and social discourse has fallen in Australia.
The extreme reaction of a Bob Debus and a Kerry Chikarovski is a symptom of the
way in which the mawkish pieties of political
correctness inexorably diminish free and forthright opinion, foster rank
political opportunism and finally disguise the deeper realities of a
still pervasive racism.
O'Shane is a very intelligent, competent and courageous citizen willing to speak
out about some unpalatable features of the social realities
she witnesses in her court. We need a lot more O'Shanes and fewer cynical,
political opportunists.
Denis Kenny, South Coogee, June 17.
Until other magistrates admit that they, too, are not living in a fairyland
world where sexual assault (and other) claimants never, ever
fabricate evidence, perhaps Pat O'Shane should be the only magistrate allowed to
hear such cases.
Robbie Prince, Roseville, June 17.
Oh what irony. The two chief "victimhood" groups in society, Aborigines and
women, are decrying each other's mythologies! Females
are claiming that "all men are rapists" and all judicial rules over evidence
should be removed as "women don't lie", while the Aborigines
claim they are the true noble inheritors of Australia and all else are vicious
interlopers.
Of course, Pat should be removed from the bench. Basically, she has accused half
the population of lying. Females are not only involved
in sexual assault cases but also offer evidence in all sorts of cases.
Mark Rintoule, June 18.
Contrary to the "fact" provided by Joan Kersey (Letters, June 16), Geoff Clark
didn't ever face the charge of rape in court. In fact, the
prosecution withdrew the charge before trial on the judge's advice that the
available evidence would not be sufficient to obtain a
conviction.
Therefore, and as a matter of fact, he was never "found not guilty" to the
charge of rape. Those charges may be reinstated and faced by
Mr Clark if and when new evidence appears.
Be careful, readers. The statement of fact is often used to powerfully reinforce
comment. Sadly, fact is often fiction.
Stephen Jones, Randwick, June 17.
Shame on you, Herald, and shame on your correspondents who seem to have taken
your unprincipled, nay, unprecedented attack on
Geoff Clark without demur.
How can the paper justify this unbelievable abuse of power, so at odds with the
Herald's normal liberal-mindedness. I am not judging
whether or not Geoff Clark is guilty, that is for the courts.
But why did the paper do it? In 30 years of reading the Herald I've never seen
you vilify a public figure in this way. Anywhere else it
could be seen as contemptible black-bashing. What's your excuse?
If only Media Watch/Littlemore were still here to put you in your place.
Graham Barry, Rozelle, June 16.
--
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A threat to justice anywhere is
a threat to justice everywhere.
-- Martin Luther King
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