David’s defence lawyer was quoted as saying that the family needed healing and that that could happen only at home.   He went on to say that the family would struggle because “we all know they’re really uncomplicated people and something really complicated has happened to them …”

Mr. Bourke senior’s welcome home for his son, and that of his sister, while it may be “uncomplicated”, seems genuine, big-hearted and somehow touching. It implies the kind of forgiveness that Jesus urges on us, the kind that’s difficult when one tries to do it.   Such forgiveness is an effect of the love that David’s father and sister have for him, and perhaps it is also born of their understanding of the family dynamics that led to David’s being guilty of the manslaughter of his brother Timothy.

There are very few families that are not more or less dysfunctional.   In that regard we are all in the same boat.   At one extreme of the family dysfunction spectrum are those that have no consciousness that their family is “broken”: the family’s members realise only dimly, or not at all, that their family set-up doesn’t work.   At the other end of the spectrum there are families who recognise that there are aspects of their familial relationships that don’t work too well: they do their best to deal with the issues, change what they can change and accept that there are some things that they cannot change.

With the rest of us, the Bourke family is somewhere on the family dysfunction spectrum.   It seems that they have a grace-filled redeeming feature in their readiness to forgive, from which will blossom the healing that David’s defence lawyer hopes for them, and that I’m sure all people of good will hope for them

This incident in October 2009, was related to the recent death of the mother of both men. Her death had plunged Tim into severe depression. On the day of the shooting, Tim exerted great pressure on his younger brother to kill him, a factor that convinced the jury at David’s trial that he was not guilty of murder.

Our legal system, much to its credit, has sided very sensitively with David and the family. The terms for his release next month are characterised by great compassion, genuine care and robust effective support strategies. Here is a family in need of great healing, and the hope is that what is in place, will enable that to happen.

Is there not also a question here, however, of the level of perceived compassion, care and support that our mental health system has in responding to people such as Tim Bourke? If only both brothers had been better convinced that genuine help was at hand and that there was hope!

What is even more indicative of the depth of our national stigma towards mental illness is that at the time of the shooting, John Kirwin’s promotion of hope for people with depression was airing widely on television. It would seem that we too still have a long way to go towards understanding and healing.

His son is a convicted killer, but Whanganui man Maurice Bourke plans to welcome him home with open arms.

David Bourke  will be freed from prison next month after serving five months for the manslaughter of his brother Timothy whom he shot dead in October 2009. Timothy had pleaded with him to take his life after spiralling into depression when their mother died.

Bourke spent 411 days in custody before being sentenced to two years, 10 months’ imprisonment in December. He will return to his family home, where he shared a bedroom with Timothy for 47 years, and is likely go back to his job at a freezing works.

His father and sister Karyn Bryan were both delighted about his pending release, defence lawyer Steve Winter said.

“The family will need to heal and the only place that’s going to happen is when he’s back. We all know they’re really uncomplicated people and something really complicated has happened to them and they will struggle … I’ve got no doubt about that.”

While Bourke had “coped” with prison, it was not the right place for him, Mr Winter said. “You needed to be there to understand what was going on in that house.”

Read the article by BRONWYN TORRIE on Stuff

What can be done to save others from having to experience such pain? What can be learned from this tragedy?  Young people tend to make wrong decisions more often than older people do. They tend not to consider possible consequences and to be attracted to the thrill of danger. The path from childhood to adulthood is precarious. How can young people be given more resources to keep themselves and others safe?

Young Tini gave in to strong peer pressure to act against her better judgement. If adolescents constantly experience being told what to do and being ordered around by those in authority then they will more easily surrender to the pressure of their peers. There are communications skills that can influence our young more effectively than using power as a first, rather than as a last, resort. These skills are more important than literacy and numeracy … probably more important.

My prayer is that Tini will be helped to recover from this trauma, learn from her experience and make something of her life.

The sadness in this article is palpable. The parents and friends of the young people killed, the 16 year old who will live all her life with the knowledge she was in charge of lives who were lost, the local community where these people lived and the rescue services who had to pick up the pieces – all these people are grieving as a result of poor decision making by a group of young people and maybe others too.

Where did the parents think their youngsters were? Why was an unsafe car being driven? Who supplied the alcohol? Were the youngsters intoxicated before they went to the party as they needed a sober driver to get them there? We could start seeking answers to all these questions to lay blame but maybe the answers belong further back than that.

How is society bringing up its children? Do we assist parents to have enough time to be with their children as they grow so that a close relationship means parents can still be part of their lives in later adolescence?  Maybe Pater Dunne’s idea of income splitting is not so bad. A parent would be around to form the child instead of the children struggling for time with busy parents who need to work to keep the family financially sound. Maybe our consumer society needs to be examined. Do we really need all that alcohol and all those goods with their built in obsolescence we work hard to acquire?

Jesus invited us to trust his father, our God, for all our needs. He wept too, as surely he is weeping now for the sadness in these people. Can we join him?

Christy later recorded a reading of 105 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit for a driver under 20 is 30mg. She had been on a learner’s licence for just over a month and was not allowed to carry passengers. Napier detective Jeff Foley, who spoke to Christy in hospital after the crash, said she told him: “I was the soberest, but not sober enough. “She said, `I was driving when the car crashed. It was all me’.”

The court was told that nine friends from Hastings and Havelock North went to a party in Taradale on the evening of October 30, 2009. They went in a Ford Econovan owned by Robert, who had organised sober driver Caitlin Bake to take them to the party.

Miss Bake had made it clear she would not drive the van home. However, it wasn’t until the returning group of seven were nearly in the van that they discussed who would drive. Ryker Wainohu, Christy’s boyfriend at the time, told the court that the group “all made the decision `Ta’ [Christy] hadn’t really been drinking … She wasn’t keen. We sort of just persuaded her to drive”.

Read rest of the DomPost article
Read Marty Sharpe in DomPost – Weeping teen admits friends’ manslaughter
Read Rosemary McLeod column in DomPost – Drunken aftermath of our Saturnalia Sevens

As a result of a report  by by Dame Margaret Bazley radical changes are to be introduced to the to the legal aid  system. It will no longer be possible to choose a lawyer to represent you should you have to appear in court. Instead, lawyers – paid between $105 and $182 an hour – will be put on a roster to be assigned cases.

In her report Dame Margaret noted that some lawyers take on too many cases. An item in the New Zealand Herald names several lawyers who received over legal aid payments of over $500,000 dollars in one year.

It also reports that the defence lawyer who took on the most legal aid cases last year – 599 – failed in a court bid to stop the amendments.  Justice Rebecca Ellis refused to grant the injunction, as legal aid recipients did not have the right to pick their lawyer.

Read Article

I recall only one occasion when I hit a child. I was minding my eight-year-old nephew who has autism. At this time, he would spend long periods on the toilet, supervised because he had a fascination with water and would flush repeatedly. After about the 20^th flush and out of frustration at the lack of action down below, I slapped his face. Immediately I was horrified that I had hurt him and he was equally shocked.

On another weekend sleepover he flooded the kitchen, water cascading over the bench to three centimetres deep by the time I discovered it. I knew I had to separate the two of us to stop myself slaughtering him. After I’d mopped the worst of the flood and calmed my rage, I went to his bedroom where he was trying to open the door. We bargained – I wanted him to have a sleep, he wanted the door open. Everyone was happy because I then had time to finish cleaning up and to have a nap myself.

Though not a parent, I can imagine the frustration of trying to stop children doing stupid things in dangerous places. But I doubt there is ever a situation where violence is the solution. Is this about child correction or uncontrolled adult rage?

James Mason, has had his conviction for assaulting his 4-year old son quashed on a technicality. Last year  he was found guilty  of punching his son in the face and pulling his ear in December 2007. He was acquitted on two other assault charges.

The case drew a considerable amount of attention because it was the first case to go before a judge after an amendment to the Crimes act that the removed the statutory defence of “reasonable force” to correct a child

In its decision released on Wednesday 3 November, the Supreme Court said Mason’s conviction must be quashed because two counts of assault had been included in one charge.

During the original 2009 trial, the district court judge told the jurors they needed only to be satisfied he had done one of those two acts to find him guilty. However, he did not tell them they had to unanimously agree on which act it was – either pulling the ear, the punch or both.

Sue Bradford,  who sponsored the amendment, to the Crimes act said the decision of the Supreme Court had nothing to do with the ammednment  and she would be concerned if opponents used it to lobby against the legislation.

Read article by By Claire Trevett
New Zealand Herald 4 November

I am opposed to violence against children and any other vulnerable group of people who cannot defend themselves. My problem is this, does making a law make any difference? Do we have to make a law to cover every eventuality? Passing a law may give us a sense of satisfaction that we have a actually done something useful. By the stroke of a pen, we think we have put the problem to rest when in fact nothing has changed.

As a society we no longer have a shared set of basic beliefs, and as a result of this we do not have a shared set of basic values – and values determine behaviour.  To fill the void thus created we are trying to make more and more laws.

But the law has its limitations. He is convicted if all the jury agreed that he punched or all agree that he pulled an ear. The trouble was some said he punched and some said he pulled an ear, but not all could agree about either action… so cumbersome so crazy. The real questions are what harm did he do his son and what if anything can we do to heal father and son?

Lord give a justice beyond the law.