Not your typical gathering at Christmas, for this week’s challenge or for the Dickie family this year,  but I have to speak my mind.

Yesterday I was at a gathering, a gathering for Allison Dickie.  Over 1,000 people came.  Allison was murdered in 2012 and finally her husband Gerard Baden-Clay was sentenced to murder in 2014 after a lengthy trial by jury (which is how the system should work!).  All this time he declared his innocence and said he had nothing to do with it. Whilst Allison was missing and everyone pulled together to search for her, he was at his solicitors.  Something was just not right here.  He also had scratches on his face, then proceeded to grow a beard….

Fast forward to 8th December 2015 and he has suddenly decided he “may have” had something to do with it and due to our wonderful judicial system his appeal was successful and now downgraded to manslaughter.  We can only hope he gets the maximum number of years which unfortunately will not be the original sentence of “LIFE”.

How can a system award this man for what he has done.  It may not have been premeditated but it was still murder!!  He lied in court to everyone, all the while thinking his arrogance would get him off because he was invincible.  We all knew he did it as did the police.  We all applauded their hard work and extensive forensic investigation after her poor body was found inhumanely dumped in a river, there was no exacting proof but through their dogged determination he was rightly convicted.

What a waste of everyone’s time, the police’s hard work, the jury’s deliberations pfft mean absolutely nothing because of a loophole of the law.

In the media lawyers have come out to say how it is a waste of our time to gather together to fight this and we are kidding ourselves it would work and ask the Attorney-General to look at this case and change the verdict.   They also blasted the media for firing everyone up, when the media was just following what the public wanted.   It might be foolhardy but people power ultimately has to win out in any democracy.

Allison’s family and friends have fought hard to bring this animal to justice and her friends courageously brought us all together yesterday for Allison and for all people (whether male of female) who are victims of domestic violence.  We were asked to wear yellow which was Allison’s favourite colour.  They mentioned how wonderful Allison was and how embarrassed she would be at all this fuss in her name as she was a very private person but sometimes you just have to stand up and be counted.  She mattered.  All the victims of domestic violence matter and there are too many losses each year to this insidious scourge.

Lisa Wilkinson from the Today show MCed the event and she read our words from her heart.  Here is a link to her speech.

Please if you feel so inclined I ask that you go to change.org to add your signature to a petition asking Qld’s Attorney-General to appeal the decision.

For more gatherings please go to the Daily Post here.