Scum he may be and there is no doubt that Armel Gnango (hmmmm) has broken many laws and deserves to go down - but he did not kill Magda Pniewska so how can he be found guilty of her murder?
The court was told it was not Gnango's weapon which fired the fatal bullet but he was still responsible for the killing because he was involved in the gunfight.
The person responsible for the killing was the second gunman - not Gnango - but due to "lack of evidence" the police have not been able to charge him.
I can't speak for Magda's family, but I would not be happy if the person convicted of murdering a member of my family was not the person who killed them. That's not justice in my view and I find it a very worrying development - in some ways reminiscent of the Derek Bentley case.
3 comments:
It's called 'joint enterprise', Stan, and it's a well established concept in English law.
Effectively, it says this to the convicted man in this case 'you went armed with a gun, pointed it at the victim and pulled the trigger, as did another man. In your case, the weapon you attempted to discharge in the direction of the victim failed to operate, whereas that held by the other man worked as intended and the victim was shot dead. You had the intention to shoot the victim; indeed you tried to do so, and but for a failure of engineering, you would have succeeded. As a consequence, you are as guilty as he is'.
Seems sensible to me.
Where we can agree, though, is our astonishment at the failure to prosecute the other offender. Worrying to say the least.
By the way, welcome back to regular posting; it's always an enjoyable read.
I'm no lawyer and I won't complain if Gnango is sentenced to life - what I am opposed to is the idea that he is the murderer when it is patently clear that he isn't and, what is more, everyone knows that he isn't. Sure, he is guilty of being an accomplice to murder, guilty of incitement to murder and a host of other things - but he isn't the killer.
I'd be fine with it if the real murderer was going down with him - but he isn't. He's getting away with it while Gnango is being made the scapegoat.
As with the Bentley case it smacks more of vengeance than justice - "we can't get the real killer so we'll do you instead". It's not right.
Thanks for the kind words, by the way - glad you enjoy it.
Isn't it the same principle that led (it is rumoured) to blagging leaders searching their members before they went on a raid for guns? Because if one used a gun and someone was killed, they'd ALL hang.
Of course, what have they got to be afraid of now...?
It IS a shame they didn't have enough to nail the other scumbag, true.
And I agree with 'anon' - good to see you back on regular postsing again :)
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