this is an absolute crock of sh*t (from today's age website):
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Four men sentenced over brutal race attack
Steve Butcher
August 23, 2008
THE victim, a Sudanese refugee, was racially taunted, bashed and left unconscious by four young men. Since the incident, Ajang Gor, 17, has felt stressed and unsafe outside his home.
His attackers, drunk and stoned on marijuana, have had disrupted childhoods and suffered broken family lives.
Balancing the crime against the punishment, County Court judge Phillip Coish yesterday confronted the hardest part of his job — deciding a just and appropriate sentence.
He acknowledged, however, the "great assistance" of a sentencing submission from the prosecution, in which immediate prison terms were not sought for the immature offenders.
Judge Coish told Shane Psaila, 19, of Patho, Chris Carlin and Andrew Hoskins, both 21, of West Melton, and James Butler, 19, of South Melton, they had committed a cowardly attack. "This type of violent attack upon a defenceless young man is deplorable," he said.
Each had pleaded guilty to one count of recklessly causing serious injury. Hoskins had also pleaded guilty to theft and Carlin to possession of a drug of dependence.
Prosecutor Paul Moran described how Mr Gor and his younger brother, riding home on October 9, 2007, met the group. Mr Gor was punched in the jaw, fell from his bike and was struck again before a bottle was smashed to the back of his head.
Judge Coish yesterday said the four men were genuinely remorseful and had either good or reasonable prospects for rehabilitation.
Psaila, Hoskins and Butler were convicted and put on 12-month community-based orders with 150 or 200-hour unpaid work conditions and other orders. Carlin, who had more prior convictions than the others, received a 12-month jail sentence suspended for a year and was fined $300.
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So remorse played a part in the hi-5's and congratulatory pats on the backs followed by a celebration at a pub.........
f**king disgraceful......