The app for independent voices
This is Jamie Sawyer—the judge who sentenced the Epping hotel offenders to longer prison terms than the asylum seeker who sexually assaulted a teenage girl.
Sawyer was appointed as a Circuit Judge in October 2023. And before handing down those sentences, he made some revealing remarks.
He concluded the offences were racially aggravated—leading the men to receive harsher sentences—because he perceived their actions to be "hostile" toward asylum seekers.
In other words, show any aversion to asylum seekers—even those who have sexually assaulted young girls—and it's a form of racism.
But doesn’t that fly in the face of the very principles the judiciary appears to uphold?
On the one hand, they say nationality isn't race-based because we're proud diverse society where a black or asian man is as British as a white man.
On the other, they say nationality is, in fact, tied to race and "racially aggravated" offences thus warrant harsher sentences.
Talk about having your cake and eating it.
Full sentencing remarks here:
