Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Two New Zealand men jailed for attacks on mosques
AUCKLAND: Two New Zealand men were jailed on Tuesday for vandalising Auckland mosques following the London bombings earlier this year, acts which the judge described as “outrageous desecration”.
Jason Paul Molloy, 19, of the South Island city of Nelson, and Ross Baumgarten, 18, of Auckland, were each sentenced to a year in jail after being convicted in an Auckland court on charges of intentional damage.
Molloy had sent a text message to an associate in Auckland after the London bomb attacks on July 7, which killed 56 people including the four presumed bombers, denouncing Muslims and calling for retaliation. He and Baumgarten attacked mosques and Islamic cultural centres between July 8 and 10, smashing windows and spraying “RIP London” on the outside walls.
Judge Thomas Everitt described the attacks as “outrageous desecration of religious buildings, motivated by racial hatred and corrupted politics”.
Baumgarten’s lawyer Panama Leauanae said his client was distressed by the London bomb attacks. “He was wanting to make a statement that those people’s lives lost weren’t going to be forgotten,” the attorney said. Molloy’s father Paul stood up in court and pleaded for leniency.
“Jason is remorseful and he has acknowledged he has made a big mistake,” Molloy said. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...11-2005_pg4_10
Two New Zealand men jailed for attacks on mosques
AUCKLAND: Two New Zealand men were jailed on Tuesday for vandalising Auckland mosques following the London bombings earlier this year, acts which the judge described as “outrageous desecration”.
Jason Paul Molloy, 19, of the South Island city of Nelson, and Ross Baumgarten, 18, of Auckland, were each sentenced to a year in jail after being convicted in an Auckland court on charges of intentional damage.
Molloy had sent a text message to an associate in Auckland after the London bomb attacks on July 7, which killed 56 people including the four presumed bombers, denouncing Muslims and calling for retaliation. He and Baumgarten attacked mosques and Islamic cultural centres between July 8 and 10, smashing windows and spraying “RIP London” on the outside walls.
Judge Thomas Everitt described the attacks as “outrageous desecration of religious buildings, motivated by racial hatred and corrupted politics”.
Baumgarten’s lawyer Panama Leauanae said his client was distressed by the London bomb attacks. “He was wanting to make a statement that those people’s lives lost weren’t going to be forgotten,” the attorney said. Molloy’s father Paul stood up in court and pleaded for leniency.
“Jason is remorseful and he has acknowledged he has made a big mistake,” Molloy said. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...11-2005_pg4_10
What is the scene like in NZ on this question?
It looks so peaceful and adventurous a country in the National Geographic and Discovery channel.
But I reckon this are on the change.
Maybe Parihaka could comment and educate us on the religion and racial equations in NZ.
I have read that an Indian born NZder was elected a Mayor and that too a woman!
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