imbecilic judges

[Ken Gargett]

at the risk of losing my newly earned tag of a leftie, i would suggest that the braindead waste of space on the bench who gave this bloke potentially three years for killing a woman should do the other thirty he deserves.

ANDREW Norman wanted to eat damper and he expected his girlfriend to cook it.

So when she turned her back on him he picked up a knife and stabbed her in the back.

She died at Royal Darwin Hospital later that night.

"The offender argued with the victim, demanding that he cook her food,'' Justice Sally Thomas told the NT Supreme Court in Darwin.

"When she delayed and turned her back, the offender picked up a standard steak knife and stabbed the victim in the middle of her back.''

Norman, aged 29, was today sentenced to seven years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.

Norman pleaded guilty to recklessly causing his 40-year-old girlfriend's death on August 18, 2008, after they had been drinking in bushland near Knuckeys Lagoon community.

In the early afternoon they went to a Darwin home to eat.

"I bought a gas stove and flour and I told her to make some damper for me,'' Justice Thomas said Norman told police.

"She was still hanging around so I told her come make some damper for me but she was making me really wild...

"I wake up from my bed and went and stabbed her, stabbed her bad way, yeh.''

But Norman, who comes from a tiny community near Yuendumu in central Australia, told police he did not intend to kill his partner.

"I was going to stab her a little bit, only once,'' he said.

An autopsy found the 10cm stab wound had "passed through her right lung'' and she had a blood alcohol reading of 0.266 per cent.

Justice Thomas said she accepted the fully initiated Aboriginal man, from the Walpiri tribe, had the knife in his hand because he was going to use it to cut up some meat.

"It was an impulsive act. It was not a sustained attack and death resulted from one stab wound,'' she told the court.

Norman will be eligible for parole in 2012.

[Guest rob]

Damper is good.

[Ken Gargett]

Damper is good.

possibly a mitigating factor?

[OZCUBAN]

I Totally Agree Ken every day you hear story's of the Judicial system going completely off the rails

Damper certainly good but it is not worth dying for Now a Cigar......

Oz

[JMH]

I know what you read in the paper wouldn't be a correct indicator of average sentence length, but I always wonder when I see people getting 20+ years for something like drug dealing when rapists & murderers seem to consistently get away with <10 years.

[zuma]

Ahh... what you guys don't see is that the judge considered "wanting damper and not getting it" as extenuating circumstances... damper is so good...

[sounddust]

"I was going to stab her a little bit, only once,'' he said.

God damn.

"She was still hanging around so I told her come make some damper for me but she was making me really wild...

Best of luck to all F&B personnel, if that's a mitigating factor for murder.

[Colt45]

[Jesuscookies]

Make me a sammich!!!!

P.S. What the hell is damper? Sounds like a car part.

[Ken Gargett]

Make me a sammich!!!!

P.S. What the hell is damper? Sounds like a car part.

it is actually very good.

<H1 align=center>

Australian Damper Bread

</H1>

This is a traditional bread baked in the coals of an open fire or in a Dutch Oven (huge lidded cast iron pot) but nowadays we bake it in a normal oven. Of course there are as many variations as there are days in the years but the basic recipe is as follow:-

Ingredients

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• 4 cups self-raising flour
  
  
• 3/4 - 1 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 2 teaspoons sugar
  
  
• 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
  
  
• 1 cup milk
  
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
  

Method

• Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and mix in the sugar.
  
  
• Rub in the butter with your (clean) hands until a fine breadcrumb texture is achieved.
  
  
• For a well in the top of the flour, pour in the milk and water, and mix well with a knife until the dough come clean from the sides of the bowl.
  
  
• Turn out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and silky, like a baby's bottom.
  
  
• Shape into a mounded loaf, (some people cut a deep cross in the top) and bake in a preheated oven, 200 c / 400 F, for 25 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 180 c / 375 f and cook a further 10 - 15 minutes until done. The loaf should be a light golden brown colour and sound hollow when tapped.
  
  
• If you are "game" try cooking it on a camp fire; nothing beats that extra smoky flavour, especially using Australian Eucalyptus wood to give it that special something. If you are cooking in an oven at home, try putting a few Gum Leaves in the over to smoke as your are cooking the bread.
  
  

Damper is very similar to Irish Soda Bread, and probably developed from recipes brought over by Irish immigrants/convicts.

Variations of the basic recipe are seemingly endless, but you could try substituting other liquids, such as beer for a darker colour/flavour, or varying the ratio of milk to water, and so on. Try adding more sugar and butter and some dried fruits for a dessert damper. Basically use your imagination.

If you are cooking on an open fire you could try wrapping the dough in aluminium foil before you place it in the coals, or even try wrapping the dough around a stick and cooking suspended over the flames.

Good Baking!

[anacostiakat]

I love soda bread! But must have a wee nip of Middletons with it.

So it sounds like I would love me some Damper!

[Ken Gargett]

spoke to a friend of mine who is in prsecutions but a different jurisdiction to the above incident. this is basically his response.

That sentence is a little on the light side, but not remarkably so. My guess is that the Crown accepted a manslaughter plea because the (Aboriginal) accused was drunk, so intent could not be clearly established. This scenario is common. There is also a default assumption that Aborigines have a disadvantaged background. The range for manslaughters like this goes up to about 9 years in queensland, but you still get a third off for pleading guilty. Ordinarily, you would be eligible for parole at half way, but for the plea you get a discount meaning you're eligible at 3. Doesn't mean he will actually get parole then - most people don't. But they usually get it before half-way.

[jdbrown]

We got a judge named Perez Hilton..we can send him your way to keep order.

[ARRV]

spoke to a friend of mine who is in prsecutions but a different jurisdiction to the above incident. this is basically his response.

That sentence is a little on the light side, but not remarkably so. My guess is that the Crown accepted a manslaughter plea because the (Aboriginal) accused was drunk, so intent could not be clearly established. This scenario is common. There is also a default assumption that Aborigines have a disadvantaged background. The range for manslaughters like this goes up to about 9 years in queensland, but you still get a third off for pleading guilty. Ordinarily, you would be eligible for parole at half way, but for the plea you get a discount meaning you're eligible at 3. Doesn't mean he will actually get parole then - most people don't. But they usually get it before half-way.

I think this is entirely correct. At the end of the day I think we should all be concerned with addressing the causes of the problems in these communities. Which, of course, is much easier said than done.