April 29: Justice for Jordan

***TONIGHTS BLOG WILL CONTAIN EXTRACTS WHICH OUTLINE INJURIES MADE TO AN INFANT WHICH ENDED WITH A MURDER CHARGE. PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE DESCRIPTION IS VERY VIVID AND MAY UPSET SOME READERS***

Imagine you have a beautiful baby boy. He is bubbly, delightful, and everything a seven month old baby should be.

Now imagine that this baby was taken away from you because of someone elses horrific acts which led to a murder charge. How would you feel?

This is what a father from Wagga Wagga, NSW, has lived with for the last 12 years. The child’s murderer was charged with mansalughter 20 Months later, and has been incarcerated at Cooma since.

Jordans injuries were so extensive that it took 4 days to list them all by a pathologist.

The most serious of the injuries was a laceration to the child’s liver, multiple fractures to his rib cage, his face had suffered serious injuries. There was bruising to numerous areas over his body and there was some serious injuries to his fingers and toes caused by a fan clamp.

And in July, 2012, the man that caused all of these injuries could be set to walk free.

To me, this seems like a gross injustice for a baby that was unable to talk, unable to walk, an unable to defend himself. This innocent child was tortured to the point where his bottom teeth were found in the roof of his mouth.

When a person commits a crime, they are sent to Jail to pay for it. But I honestly do not believe that 10 years is a long enough time when a family has been given a life sentence.

On July 30, 2003, After three weeks of a Murder Trial in which he claimed “Not Guilty,” Christopher Hoerler signalled he wanted to change his plea. He rose before the jury in the Supreme Court of NSW and said he did, after all, kill baby Jordan Anderson on February 25, 2000, at the child’s home in Wagga Wagga.
He has been telling police he heard a thump on the floor and woke to find the baby on the floor with red, brown and white fluid frothing around his mouth.

The following excerpt, taken from http://www.mako.org.au/christopher_hoerler.html shows vey clearly that justice has not been fully served.

Richard Cogswell, SC, for the DPP, argued in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal today that Hoeler’s sentence- handed down in the Supreme Court last December by Acting Justice Jeffrey Miles- was “manifestly inadequate”.
Mr Cogswell said Jordan’s killing fell into the worst category of manslaughter and should have attracted a higher sentence.
“A crime of violence which is attended by some element of gratuitous cruelty of torture is more serious objectively than one which is not,” he said.
“The crushing injuries to the toes by the application of the clamp is a particular feature of great heinousness….it’s gratuitous cruelty.”
Appeal judge Michael Adams said that as “ghastly” as the injuries to Jordan’s toes were, Hoerler could not be punished for them.
“We are not punishing him for the crime of causing the injuries to the feet,” Justice Adams told the court.
“He was not charged with that… and he cannot be punished for that as a distinct matter.

So, now we get to the point of tonights horrific blog: what you can do to help.

If you could take just 2 minutes out of your life to fill out a petition, we may have a chance at keeping Baby Jordans killer away from the streets, away from people, but more importantly, away from other kids.

A tiny child, with no voice, needs to be spoken for. Here is our chance to do it.

Click HERE to lend your voice to a matter which needs it.

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