Truly touching

11 comments on “Truly touching ”

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1. fender 1

   4 February 2012 at 12:16 am

   Turangi people deserve much praise for the way they supported this family, it was obviously much appreciated by the family and their response is heartwarming. Very gracious despite the heinous crime their daughter was subjected to.
2. Dr Terry 2

   4 February 2012 at 9:20 am

   Yes, probably too many of us rush to offer criticisms (often deserved), but we need also to affirm goodness and selflessness in our fellow beings wherever it occurs. Truly, in this case, it does very much good for the heart and hope. Terry
3. Jenny 3

   4 February 2012 at 9:36 am

   The family has said their baby girl has no or little memory of the attack. I pray to God that is true. I truley hope that she make a full recovery, that this appalling crime doesn’t mar her future or leave any long term affect on her health, . My best wishes to her and her family. Our whole country shared in their grief and horror.

   I am truly touched and would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for their forgiveness and generosity. This sort of kindness towards New Zealanders from this family, could only spring from a deep courage and a strong conviction in the ultimate goodness of humanity, in the face of an extreme challenge to that faith.

   Apart from the terrible injuries and suffering inflicted on this little child and her family, there was something else truly horrible about this crime.

   That the perpetrator who has pleaded guilty to this crime was such a young man added to the horror and shock for me.

   It just seemed so unlikely.

   I had imagined an older twisted and ruined wreck of a human-being as the child rapist.

   What went wrong here?

   I think the country wants answers.

   And I think the country deserve answers.

   The news reports say the family has gang connections, yet the name of the gang has been suppressed by the court. I think that this is an outrage.

   The leaders of this gang need to challenged in public, to distance themselves from this crime and as a lesson to all their membership, publicly announce that the gang is cutting all links to this young man.

   If not, this young man and his family will be still held in bosom of this gang and this crime will be considered as acceptable within their ranks.

   The gang leaders need to be challenged to publicly say that this is not so. If the secret identity of this gang is maintained and the leaders of this gang are spared having to take a public stand on this crime, then we can only expect further outrages of this type.

   What on earth was the judge thinking?

   Did the gang hire lawyers to keep their name out of the papers?

   I can understand the decision for name suppression for the boy and his family, so that on his eventual release he can make some sort of a new life free from the gang lifestyle. But to hide the name of the gang, is in affect protecting the gang’s reputation and making sure that he will be welcomed back into that lifestyle, inside prison and beyond.

   If this gang’s name was made public and the leaders still refuse to condemn this terrible crime, this would hinder their recruitment, maybe even cause others to leave it.
   • RedLogix 3.1

     4 February 2012 at 10:19 am

     Very thoughtful and heartfelt Jenny. Not a lot I can add, except to reaffirm from my own experience just how much utter misery the gangs create.

     If this nation could leave alcohol and gangs behind into some dark and forgotten corner of our history… life here would be a wholly better thing.
   • higherstandard 3.2

     4 February 2012 at 10:35 am

     Amongst all of the name calling between those of different political persuasions it is good to see some things that virtually everyone can agree on.

     Great thoughts Jenny, it would be met with almost universal praise no matter what blog site you posted on.
   • muzza 3.3

     4 February 2012 at 11:02 am

     Very well said Jenny…

     Perhaps some of your questions could be in new thread? (MODS). Be a shame to comment on them , on this post which is related to your first two paragrphs, about the warmer side of this horrid incident!
   • Lanthanide 3.4

     4 February 2012 at 11:06 am

     “The family has said their baby girl has no or little memory of the attack.”

     I don’t think a 5 year old is a baby.
   • LynW 3.5

     4 February 2012 at 12:46 pm

     Thanks for sharing your thoughts Jenny. You certainly make some very valid points. This family have shown so poignantly that they will not be defined by such a brutal and inexcusable act. Their thoughtful generosity to the New Zealand people leaves them forever in our hearts, remembered more for their act of kindness than the hideous crime done to them. What an influential impact they have had on us all.
4. RedLogix 4

   4 February 2012 at 11:39 am

   I will add one thing. Plenty of young men, especially in that first turbulent flush of puberty have yet to properly integrate boundaries around sexuality. Probably most of us can say that we did a few things at that age that with hindsight were not all that smart.

   But I’d guarantee that it was the element of attempting some spectacular crime to gain gang approval that tipped this young man into committing this abhorrent act; he didn’t so much as bend a boundary… he utterly demolished it and has finished up in a place no sane and mature person would contemplate. Tragically in a few unhigned minutes he’s destroyed his own life, not to mention the trauma he’s inflicted on his victims.

   This is nothing in the nature of an excuse; this pitiful bastard going to wear the consequences of this crime all his life. But as Jenny clearly articulates.. the gang environment which I am certain enabled his total failure of judgement and empathy, must be openly held to account as well.
   • mik e 4.1

     5 February 2012 at 11:37 am

     With very high youth unemployment gangs are having a field day recruiting prospects ,Who are lining up in cues the down stream effect will multiply exponentially in the not to distant future!
     • Descendant Of Smith 4.1.1

       5 February 2012 at 1:58 pm

       The gangs also provide a good place for predators to hide in.
       Those that can spot vulnerable young women and take them under their wing all the time manipulating and abusing them.
       Whenever a gang leader speaks out about reducing violence in the gangs three simple questions put their claims to nonsense:
       1. So you will announce that anyone who wishes to leave the gang can hand in their patch
       2. That any women who no longer wishes to be part of this can leave along with their children
       3. That in both cases there will never be any pressure to rejoin or retribution for doing so.
       I haven’t met one yet that is prepared to make any of those statements.
       Of course the (Maori dominated) gangs are much needed by the right. A climate of fear is required as well as a group of people to look down upon.
       They are a tool of the right.
       The fact is that these gangs do much more harm to Maori than to anyone else is a bonus. The fact that Maori leadership do little about saying it’s not OK to be in a gang helps perpetuate them.

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