Les Shotton, Belongil
Had a paramedic come across that harmless young boy on the street in Byron he would have been assessed for psychiatric issues, alcohol poisoning, dehydration, admitted for observation or taken home. In no circumstances would the boy have been clubbed.
Had the boy been the offender, he would be demonised and incarcerated pronto. He would have received no transfers to another town.
Contrived justice is not based on truth, it is a distortion or corruption of truth. As in George Orwell’s Animal Farm with the totalitarian pig Napoleon where ‘some animals are more equal than others’.
There needs to be a public inquiry, with submissions from the public, to ascertain if this violence is the tip of the iceberg. It’s quite obvious that this system of clubs, tasers, capsicium spray and guns for problem solving needs to be replaced with one that has a duty of care to humanity and the environment.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
