Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Of Truth and Conscience
This is the chilling story of a women wronged by justice. In 1980, a young couple went for a camping holiday with their young baby in the outback in Northern Territory, Australia. The baby disappeared during the darkness one night. According to the mother, she heard the baby cried and went to check out. To her horror, she caught a glimpse of the baby dragged away by a dingo (a native Australian wild dog) into the darkness. Police later found some torn clothing worn by the baby in some bushes.
The woman was charged for killing the baby and was convicted in 1982 and jailed for life. The young mother maintained her innocent and there were subsequent appeals. In 1986, the court eventually quashed her conviction.
Now 25 years later, a man has come forward with new information. Apparently, he was also camping with three others in around the area where the young couple camped. One day, he went hunting for rabbit for his dog. He then shot a dingo, which he thought was a rabbit. To his horror, he found the baby dead with the dingo. As he was using firearm illegally in the National Park, the group decided not to report the incident immediately for fear of getting into trouble. Instead they discard the baby’s clothing and buried the baby elsewhere. They agreed that one of them were to tell Police later that they hit a dingo with the baby while driving. They never did.
Twenty-five years later, he is now an old man and those who camped with him that faithful time had passed away. His conscience comes back to play on him. He said he felt terrible when the woman was jailed, but he did not have the courage to speak out at that time as the group had agreed to keep silent. He said that he must now tell the truth before it is too late.
As human being, we do have conscience. At times, we suppress our conscience and kept silent about the truth to protect ourselves. But our conscience plays on us constantly. We are uneasy with ourselves with keeping dark secrets. We build a cocoon to protect us and we live inside it. We thought we are safe inside this cocoon away from our conscience, but we actually live in fear and uncertainty. Eventually, we need to live up to our conscience. We need to free ourselves by speaking the truth, soon or later.
The woman was charged for killing the baby and was convicted in 1982 and jailed for life. The young mother maintained her innocent and there were subsequent appeals. In 1986, the court eventually quashed her conviction.
Now 25 years later, a man has come forward with new information. Apparently, he was also camping with three others in around the area where the young couple camped. One day, he went hunting for rabbit for his dog. He then shot a dingo, which he thought was a rabbit. To his horror, he found the baby dead with the dingo. As he was using firearm illegally in the National Park, the group decided not to report the incident immediately for fear of getting into trouble. Instead they discard the baby’s clothing and buried the baby elsewhere. They agreed that one of them were to tell Police later that they hit a dingo with the baby while driving. They never did.
Twenty-five years later, he is now an old man and those who camped with him that faithful time had passed away. His conscience comes back to play on him. He said he felt terrible when the woman was jailed, but he did not have the courage to speak out at that time as the group had agreed to keep silent. He said that he must now tell the truth before it is too late.
As human being, we do have conscience. At times, we suppress our conscience and kept silent about the truth to protect ourselves. But our conscience plays on us constantly. We are uneasy with ourselves with keeping dark secrets. We build a cocoon to protect us and we live inside it. We thought we are safe inside this cocoon away from our conscience, but we actually live in fear and uncertainty. Eventually, we need to live up to our conscience. We need to free ourselves by speaking the truth, soon or later.
