Justice Raynor Asher is a scumbag
[Trigger warning: rape, rape apologism]
Five young men pack-raped a woman in Rotorua.
But don’t worry: they didn’t cause her any harm “more than what was inherent in multiple rapes with multiple offender” [emphasis mine].
They just caused the standard amount of harm you get with your average brutal gang-rape.
Hurrah!
I’m running low on righteous fury right now, so I’m going to hand things over to Catriona MacLennan:
Our legal system imposes penalties by comparing different cases, weighing their seriousness and making judgments as to factors that are both aggravating and mitigating.
However, the way in which this is done in rape cases trivialises the ordeals of victims and displays a lack of understanding of rape.
Judges need further education about rape – who the perpetrators are, what the impacts are on victims and how terrifying, humiliating and painful rape is.
But let’s be honest, it’d probably just be easier to execute all rapists. Death is a nice, final kind of punishment, so we wouldn’t have to worry about whether the scumbags involve get a year less because it was only a two-hour ordeal, not two-hours-fifteen.
Ideologically Impure 
Hmm, as we do have quite a progressive justice system, I would like to think that this particular judge’s viewpoint is very much in the minority. He sounds like a bloody dinosaur that needs to be put out to pasture, although I have that opinion of most of our working population over 55. The vast majority hold worldviews that do not fit with the 21st century that is here, and like any good troglodyte, they hold back change and progress. (Thanks Mr. Prosser for re-introducing a word that seems quite apt these days.
You know, I totally sympathise with the idea that hopefully, bigoted bullshit is limited to older generations who will not be around forever to impose their crap on us. On the other hand, there’s always brand-new bigots popping up to fill the gaps, and in the meantime, shitty shit keeps being shitty.
Yeah, I think you might be right there… Although given the cognitive abilities of some teenagers and yoof I know, I don’t think any of them could define bigot, let alone put a coherent sentence together. I suppose there is a fine line between being a bigot and being an empty-headed moron who has a room temperature IQ, either way, these are the people we should be exporting to Australia!!