Rita Panahi: How can a killer with no remorse be in minimum security prison?
WHILE David Cassai’s killer enjoys running around on the footy ground and socialising with mates post-match over a soft drink his mother is serving a life sentence without her son. The justice system is sadly lacking justice, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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“THAT’S what we came here for.”
That’s what one of the cowardly thugs who set upon David Cassai and his mates on December 31, 2012, yelled as they ran away from the scene of the crime.
In a few mindless minutes of violence more than one life was destroyed.
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The vicious, unprovoked attack left Cassai dead and his friends with serious injuries including a fractured jaw.
Those responsible for the violence, Dylan Closter, Thomas McCluskey-Sharp and Tryone Russell received the sort of pitifully lenient sentences that destroy the community’s faith in the judiciary.
Closter, who threw multiple punches and chased Cassai to deliver the final, fatal blow and reportedly “bounced on his feet like a boxer over his victim’s body” copped the stiffest sentence; nine years and three months with a six year minimum.
But this week we learned that the killer, who is yet to apologise to David’s family, has since April been regularly leaving prison to train and play footy with Rushworth Football Club.
It’s a development that has devastated Cassai’s family particularly his mother, Caterina Politi, who only learnt of Corrections Victoria’s decision through a reporter at Channel 7.
“To me he really hasn’t served his punishment, and that really is a dagger in my heart,” said Politi who points out that her son suffered “a sustained attack”, not just a single punch.
“He’s in a minimum security prison, it’s like a caravan park. How can someone who killed a person and never showed remorse be in a minimum security prison?”
On Tuesday Attorney-General Martin Pakula didn’t seem too alarmed by news of a killer let out of prison ostensibly for recreation purposes: “Who is allowed to have weekend leave is a matter for Corrections Victoria, not for politicians,” he said.
After a public backlash, Premier Daniel Andrews expressed his “shock”, apologised to Politi and asked for a review.
“That is not treatment that aligns with the proper punishment that person should be getting, the time they should be serving for the cowardly, evil act that they undertook,” he said.
While Closter enjoys running around on the footy ground, socialising with mates post-match over a soft drink and is in line to win the best clubman award, reportedly due to his stellar fund-raising efforts, Politi is serving a life sentence without her son.
“He sees the sunshine everyday. There’s always a cloud in my life, my heart is all broken pieces,”
she said.
“It’s never about victims … the government says it wants to change things but it’s all lip service.
“We are fighting a losing battle, judges don’t want harsher sentences, they think it doesn’t help but when did we have harsh sentencing in Victoria? How do we know it doesn’t work when we haven’t tried it?”
Sentencing is meant to serve the dual purpose of punishing offenders for the crimes they’ve committed as well as serve as a deterrent to others and reduce incidence of lawlessness.
However, a pre-occupation with the rights and what’s in the best interests of offenders is seeing innocent victims and their families let down.
The justice system is sadly lacking justice. It’s not just police command and the courts, it’s the entire system including Corrections Victoria and the parole boards, adult and youth, that have lost their way.
“My son’s life to the government, to the corrections system, means nothing,” Politi said.
We hear much about the offender’s plight, their prospects of rehabilitation and their loved ones hopes for their future but what about the innocent soul whose life is snuffed out and the heartbroken family and friends left behind?
Cassai was just 22 with the world at his feet when he crossed paths with his killer. He was a much-loved, affectionate young man with a passion for life, travel and adventure that saw him skydiving, bungee jumping and even running with the bulls in Pamplona.
A conscientious employee, he only missed one day of work in five years and was loved by his bosses and clients alike. A few months before he was killed he celebrated finishing his landscaping apprenticeship with a trip to Europe with his girlfriend and a group of mates.
True to his generous nature Cassai paid for a mate’s airfares who otherwise couldn’t afford to go. The night he was killed, he paid for a stranger’s bus ticket from Portsea to Rye, minutes before he and his mates were set upon by Closter’s feral crew.
Soccer and footy were passions; Cassai played soccer for Doncaster Rovers and loved the Collingwood Football Club who lent the family the 2010 Premiership Cup for his funeral.
His mother may be biased but she says everyone loved David because he was good to everyone. He was a gentle, hard-working, considerate and thoroughly decent human being from a good family who deserve better than to be continuously re-traumatised by a broken justice system.
“Even when his life depended on it he didn’t throw a punch back. In some way I wish he did but he was not violent,” Politi said.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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