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Friday, August 06, 2004
Free Svend
The ring smuggler (no, that's not a euphemism!) is a free boy today, after a kindhearted judge agreed to let him off with a slap on the wrist.
Judge Ronald Fratkin said in his decision that: “On balance, the credits outweigh the debits for Mr. Robinson. I'm satisfied that what he has gone through is enough. He's fallen a long way and embarrassed himself.”
Don’t most criminals “embarrass themselves” once their caught? So now the shame one feels when one is caught breaking the law is officially considered to be sufficient punishment for the act of actual crime?
Posted by Kevin Libin on August 6, 2004 | Permalink
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» We Were On The Edge Of Seats from small dead animals
Sending a strong message to would-be gay activist, jewel thieving, politicians. Svend must be kicking himself for giving the thing back.... [Read More]
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» On The Edge Of Our Seats from small dead animals
Sending a strong message to would-be gay activist, jewel thieving, politicians. Svend must be kicking himself for giving the thing back.... [Read More]
Tracked on 2004-08-07 11:32:03 AM
Comments
Judge Fratkin is a member of my golf club. Perhaps he was thinking about the state of my golf game as of late when he made his decision:
"He's fallen a long way and embarrassed himself."
Posted by: OJM | 2004-08-06 4:14:48 PM
That reasoning is used more often than you may think. Especially with young offenders, its almost the only judgment given.
Posted by: Singh | 2004-08-06 4:15:24 PM
Svend is hardly a young offender. I wonder if I would avoid getting a criminal record after stealing a $50,000 piece of jewellery? Not likely.
Posted by: Michael Dabioch | 2004-08-06 4:48:22 PM
Is it time for someone to start keeping track of who appointed these judges? People like to talk about the impartiality of the judiciary, but these guys come from somewhere. They ingratiated themselves with the powers that be (or were) enough to be appointed to the bench. Let's face it. That's by no means an apolitical process. Can we start with this judge? Anybody know from whence he came?
Posted by: alan | 2004-08-06 9:06:36 PM
"after a kindhearted judge agreed to let him off with a slap on the wrist"
The slap was as limp as the wrist.
Posted by: Sean | 2004-08-06 9:45:41 PM
Ted Morton and Link Byfield say Svend is part of the court party. When these judges and Svend, party together how could you think they could give him a hard sentence. That what's wrong with our counrty. Judges aren't impartial.
Posted by: Lyn Hollowy | 2004-08-06 9:58:01 PM
Alan, there's remarkably little information on Ronald (R.D.) Fratkin, Prov. Ct. J., in public online sources. He participated in the 1969 Maccabiah Games (golf). By 1983, he was practising criminal law in the Vancouver/Richmond area: see his affidavit in B.C.G.E.U. v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1988] 2 S.C.R. 214, at para. 3. By 1991, he had been appointed to the B.C. Provincial Court; however, he has no judgments available on CanLII or the Courts of British Columbia website.
I found one fascinating tidbit:
http://www.yourlibrary.ca/community/richmondreview/archive/RR20010719/morenews.html
Scroll down to "Man receives ban from Richmond after mischief conviction." Apparently the judge feels the suffering of other criminals, not Svend alone.
Posted by: Charles MacDonald | 2004-08-07 8:45:30 AM
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