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Black Saturday: No justice...and community seeks answers

By Nicole Ferrie
Updated November 7 2012 - 6:15am, first published November 7 2011 - 11:05am
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Black Saturday: No justice...and community seeks answers
Black Saturday: No justice...and community seeks answers

Editor’s note: As the boys have not been found guilty of a crime, comments assuming guilt cannot, and will not, be posted.

  • Black Saturday anniversary: When time stands still
  • Boys' Black Saturday charges dropped
  • News a kick in the butt, say Bendigo survivors
  • Bushfire victim's family outraged
  • Editorial: Bendigo deserves bushfire answersCHARGES against two teenagers accused of lighting the fatal Bracewell Street fire on Black Saturday have been dropped.The Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday announced it would discontinue with prosecution of the boys, aged 15 and 16, saying there was no reasonable prospect of conviction and it was not in the public interest to proceed.The boys were each charged with arson causing death and intentionally or recklessly causing a bushfire – but they were both deemed unfit to be tried because of their intellectual disabilities.Yesterday’s move by the DPP has angered Black Saturday survivors, who described the news as the “biggest kick in the butt’’ since they lost their homes when fire swept through the city’s western suburbs on Febuary 7, 2009.The family of Mick Kane, who lost his life on that fateful day, are now calling for the law to be changed. Community seeks answersQUESTION 1: Why were the charges against the two teenagers charged with starting the Bendigo Black Saturday fire dropped?DPP RESPONSE: “The DPP subsequently considered the state of the evidence and the circumstances of the offenders and came to the view that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction, nor was it in the public interest to proceed with the prosecution.”BUT THESE QUESTIONS STILL NEED ANSWERS: 2. Are there any consequences for the teens?3. Is there any possibility the teens can becharged with the same matter in future?4. If so, under what circumstances?5. Can this decision be appealed?

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