Tree Killer

Posted by Sean
Filed in City
January 6, 2006

I'm barking mad. This is just treesonous. That judge is a sap. Just because she wanted to spruce up her view? Fir crying out loud. Son of a Birch.

Anyways...The lady who poisoned the trees on English Bay so the value of her apartment would go up just got an absolute discharge. Nothing. She ended up selling her condo for 1.7 million dollars, which should easily cover the 50,000 dollar bribe she paid to the parks board before the trial. So next time you do something wrong and get caught, just write up a fat cheque. What's that? You can't afford to? Oh well, you're going to jail. Is our justice system really that transparently class structured? I mean i always thought so, especially after OJ bought his innocence, but this is just too obvious.

The judge's excuse was that the public humiliation and abuse she suffered, along with restitution she paid, was sufficient penalty. When I think of some of the fines levvied to graf artists in this city, who are in effect adding art to city walls, I can't help but think that her wealth and her status helped her a great deal. So, let me get this straight, public humiliation and embarassment is punishment enough? Hey, in that case, why would you ever need to punish anyone? Just let the public get real mad for a couple of months. What? What is the justice system for then? If the public can decide a guilty person's punishment, then why do we have judges in the first place?

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The two-tiered legal system in our country is an absolute joke. The Air India bombers are "innocent" because the cops made a few small errors and we're scared to jail high-profile visible minorities. Gordon Campbell holds the premiership despite a foreign criminal record and years of holding his opponents to impossible ethical standards. This "woman", richer than most everybody, pays a pittance for not only public mischief, but utter disregard for the welfare and safety of her fellow Vancouverites.

Meanwhile, ICBC is bankrupting families with legal fenagling, the entire east side is held fast by institutionalised poverty, and our health care lineups are outsized only by the welfare queues. It's atrocious what the "upper" classes are doing to our "socially responsible" country.

Posted by: Jason Kurylo at January 7, 2006 10:29 AM | Quote Comment

It's horrible. There's no way she should have gotten away with this.

Posted by: Leanne at January 8, 2006 1:15 PM | Quote Comment

uh, comparing this trial to the air india trial is a bit of a stretch. killing 3 10-year old trees is super-lame but in the grand scheme of things - not that big of a deal and to someone as snooty and selfish as she is, a ruined reputation is the worst punishment imaginable.

Posted by: carlos at January 9, 2006 1:15 PM | Quote Comment

I agree that, for her, a ruined reputation is probably the best punishment. And while it is likely that she got away with the crime without the type of punishment meted out to poverty stricken Vancouverites, that doesn't mean she should have been served with a greater sentance. Our justice system is ridiculously fucked up and the only people that should be incarcerated are those who are an actual threat to society. She poisoned a couple of trees. She's an obvious lunatic. She suffered in the way that best fit her situation. She became a social pariah and was forced to pay money to the parks board. I don't want my tax dollars paying for her to be in jail, just as much as I don't want my tax dollars paying for some pot dealer to be forced through the legal system.

Posted by: fainne at January 10, 2006 2:23 AM | Quote Comment