The Death Penalty.

 The Death Penalty for Crimes against Children.

A life story.

To begin I must admit a bias. They call me a survivor now days, and I will always hold some resentment regarding these matters.

However I did have a(nother), rude shock at age 14, it was all so seemingly mundane really.

It was a Saturday arvo about 3pm when my mate showed up, Wade, he asked me if I wanted to go to see a mutual friend, Assistant cricket coach Trevor, he was 22 and lived right across the road from the local club rooms.

Anyways told mum and dad I might stay there, nothing unusual, Trev had worked for dad and it was only 4 blocks away, a 5 minute BMX ride to go home if I changed my mind.

We got to the oval in time for BBQ, Trev had met a travelling couple who were parked up with a big caravan, They asked if they could camp in his driveway for the night all they needed was an extension cord for power and possibly use the toilet. They offered $50 and Trev agreed.

The van was parked, they had 2 kids, 11 and 13, Wade and I ran the power cord and they were set. as we ate they expressed the desire to get away from the kids for a night and said they had never been to a casino. Another $50 was offered if Trev would "keep and eye on the kids" although they would be in the van, for a few hours while they went out.

At 11 and 13 Trev figured why not, he already knew he would be stuck with Wade and I anyways. So off they went at about 8pm.

If not for what happened later I would not likely even remember the night to this day, Wade and I played super Nintendo, we shared a leaf joint and 2 glasses of sherry playing Mario Kart. Trevor went upstairs to bed approx 10pm, he legally had to lock his door due to the venomous snakes contained therin. at the time a red bellied black, 3 browns, a death adder and his prize Bones, a 14 foot boa constrictor.

This left Wade and I alone in the lounge, and at about 10:30 pm a knock at the door as the older sister and her brother wished to use the toilet, no worries we let them through.

Somewhere around midnight we fell asleep in the lounge room.

The next day I was hung over and awoke to a loud noise out the front,  I looked out the window just in time to see and hear the draw bar scrape the driveway as the 4X4 took off with the caravan, it was 6:45 am. 

I made 2 bowls of cocco pops and Wade and I went back to games, Trevor came down stairs about 8am and we told him, those people took off, he didn't seem surprised but was a bit upset they hadn't paid the promised him $100.

Then he made us egg, bacon and sausage breakfast.

We went over to the club about 9ish, I went home about 10 on the Sunday morning. 

A bit after midday mum got a call from the police asking if I was at Trevor's place the night before, she confirmed and they said they would come get me for questioning. 

Mum was about to freak out but Dad calmly took over and said I was a minor, he would bring me in and attend the interview. Both then asked me what did you do ? 

I replied nothing. 

Approx 2pm Dad and I entered Holden Hill Police station and were quickly moved to the interview room where I was questioned and stated basically what I have written above.

I even confessed to the pot smoking thinking that was the extent of the problem and it was not, not by a long shot.

When we came out both Wade and his mother plus Trev were in the waiting area, being the last interviewed we were all free to go, however wade and I had to sign forms saying we would testify in court to what we had said in our interviews.

Trev it turned out had been arrested earlier and had no way home so Dad gave him a lift.

It was on this drive we first heard of what was going on, and the full story would not come out for another 8 weeks. 

Trevor told us he had been accused of abusing the 2 kids by the parents, they had all made statements earlier resulting in Trevs arrest, His statements are why they came for Wade and I, to corroborate his story, the police basically told him if it wasn't for us he would be in jail, as he would be considered guilty with no way to prove innocence.

8 weeks later Trev would face court, Wade and i did not attend as they only needed our recorded testimony, so I only have Trevors retelling of what he learned in court that day.

It gets twisted, Ok the 3 of us mentioning the Casino helped, They told the police they were at the Royal Adelaide Hospital visiting a friend and stayed in a motel nearby, The police were able to track them to the Casino.

This triggered a search and apparently before Trev was even released the Police had found out they had done this twice before, yes twice.

A huge compensation claim was paid and a man in QLD was convicted, he had committed suicide 6 months later.

Another man in Melbourne was currently in prison coming up 4 years, also a huge compensation claim, this man was later released and found innocent, however not before they tried it on Trevor, retrospect shows the money had probably run out.

In court Trev learned that the kids were well rehearsed in making accusations and by the end Trevor was free and clear with a warrant out for the couples arrest.

The police went so far as to say they feared they had traveled interstate in the 8 week delay.

It was a further month before we got updated via the news of their arrest in WA, They had tried the exact same ploy on the owner of a caravan park who had the whole thing on camera. It was the 4th time (that i know of), 1 now presumably innocent man dead, 1 in jail for over 4 years, Trevor wouldnt coach cricket anymore and who knows how much worse it could have gotten.

All this I learned by experience and accident before I was even 15.

Thus I would appreciate it if people could accept my defiant right to disagree with any kind of punishment that includes enforced death as a result, That clearly happens anyway, and even to the innocent.

Further standing I am not 14 or even 15 anymore, so I have a lot more to say, But the death penalty better be reserved for fully evidenced and documented crimes only, including caveats.

To this day I am so affected that if anyone asks me to supervise their kids, even for 15 minutes they get a very blunt HELL NO!

I have seen and experienced a lot since then, much I don't even wish to discuss publicly, but a 14 year old girl in a town of approx 450 said she was "SA" by 9 men in town. 9.

Yet not one of the other 60 young girls tween 10 and 20 had a single problem with anyone, just her.

I know of 4 instances of father incest, Only 1 of which I would ever have been sus about for a minute due to his other nefarious activities, The other 3 I never would have guessed.

2 of them filmed their evil activities and the last was caught in the act by the childs step mother.

Now, these are 3 cases where I consider the potential of death, with absolute 100% substantiated evidence beyond a shadow of any doubt, However, the world has gone the other way.

And I have ethical caveats myself.

Much like Voluntary assisted dying or VAD laws, I can only go as far as to condone this option being presented to predators and extreme criminals or cases who would otherwise require solitary or protective custody.

The current system allows convicted monsters to serve sentences in home detention.

This must end, It should be protected, solitary or the option to end it all and save everyone the trouble. 

In this way the ONLY person who should make the decision should be the convict.

No other person should be responsible for the death of any convicted criminal with the exception of the convict themselves. 

There is still a remainder of nuance to this proposed approach, however I will NEVER agree with the average online commentator who will happily post images of a wood chipper, and call for the death of someone accused of a crime, by the very media these same dickheads constantly rubbish, with a side note of ironically claiming the media is biased, full of bull shit and not to be trusted.

The same media reports -Data reveals only 14 per cent of child sexual abuse claims before Family Court believed to be true by judges.

This is a very clear example of how a persons life is 1000% more likely to be destroyed by accusations alone.

The collective hysteria of the witch trials of old has not gone away it has simply evolved, and the accepted guilty until proven innocent method ensures that a death sentence is a likely outcome even without a conviction or evidence.

For these and many other reasons I cannot condone the death penalty in any case which does not place the 100% without doubt convicted criminal in charge of their own right to life.

With regards.

©Jayman.W.Newell© 21/oct/2025.

Media citation VVVV

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-09/child-abuse-family-court-findings-statistics/100355902

P.S. To quote my Pop Don Newell - There is a difference tween Justice, and what JUST is...