COMMENT: Court could have raised the bar

This family's faith in the justice system has not been repaid.

Lindsay Ede. Picture: Contributed

THEY'VE dealt with one of the most traumatic incidents you could imagine, yet the family of Lindsay Ede has shown nothing but patience and grace in dealing with the justice system.

This newspaper had the privilege of being invited into the home of Mr Ede's brother, Terry Bishop, shortly after the assault that killed Mr Ede.

Despite what was an awful time, the family was full of praise for the actions of police on that fateful afternoon.

From that moment on, this grieving family maintained faith that the courts would one day pick up where the police had left off, and deliver something resembling justice.

When the charges against Ariik Mayot were amended to the new offence of unlawful striking causing death, their hopes were somewhat raised.

Well, I'm sorry to say that after a wait of almost two years, this family's faith in the justice system has not been repaid.

To say they were devastated by the sentence handed down to Ariik Mayot would be an understatement.

To us outsiders, this seemed like an opportunity to set a precedent; to show society that mindless acts of violence that kill innocent people will be punished accordingly.

With all the respect that is due to the courts, one of the few things Mr Bishop could say to me about yesterday was that the whole exercise seemed pointless.

After all that family has been through, I think that one word speaks volumes.