‘Repugnant’ Richard Pusey will rot in a prison of his own making
The Crimes Act (1958) covers myriad of sins from murder to piracy with violence. It does not, however, include the offence of being a self-entitled, cold-blooded twat. If it did, Richard Pusey would remain in custody for many more years.
As it doesn’t, he was to be released from prison on Wednesday.
Richard Pusey.
On April 22, last year he was pulled up on the Eastern Freeway having been clocked in his Porsche at a speed of 149km/h.
Four police, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphries and Josh Prestney were killed when they were hit by a truck as they stood by Pusey’s car.
He would have been killed if, at that moment, police had not allowed him to step away to urinate at the side of the road.
Instead of rendering assistance, the despicable Pusey went for his phone, not to call for help, but to record the dead and dying police – police who were just doing their jobs.
The police officers killed in the Eastern Freeway crash were (from left) Constable Josh Prestney, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Glen Humphris.Credit:The Age
Prosecutors were determined to make him pay the maximum cost for his actions, even dragging out the little-known and little-used offence of outraging public decency.
But Pusey didn’t cause the crash. He wasn’t guilty of manslaughter, and while he should have tried to help the injured at the crime scene, no-one could have saved them.
The public is rightly outraged at Pusey, whose behaviour before and since the freeway tragedy has shown him to be a pathetic bully, trapped by his own psychopathic ego.
But the law is designed to punish crimes, not character flaws.
Most judges would have loved to have thrown the book at him, if there was a crime in the book that allowed it to be thrown. The magistrate who finally sentenced him on Wednesday then set him free described him as “repugnant”.
Some buildings in Melbourne turned blue in a tribute to the four police officers who died on the Eastern Freeway a year ago. Credit:Joe Armao
Instead, he has served 10 months for his actions on the freeway and a series of nasty smaller crimes he has committed since. It’s proved monumentally unpopular with almost everyone.
This is why judges are appointed and not elected – so they will administer the law fairly without an eye out for popularity.
When we think of the four police who died on the freeway we should remember them as decent people, from the young probationary constable with his career in front of him, to the longer serving leading senior constable looking forward to retirement.
We should think of how we turned the city blue in tribute, and we felt the sort of compassion that is beyond the reach of people like Pusey.
He doesn’t get it. We do.
Richard Pusey may be released from prison, but he will forever be imprisoned by his personality. For all his bluff and bluster he cannot escape from the fact that he is a contemptible human being who should and will be shunned by the decent. And that is worse than any jail term.
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