Villagers torture bike thieves

[redken1]

My posts are in direct response to the content of the Visordown article – nothing more than that. We are not discussing the owners of motorcycles catching a thief in the act and using force to prevent their prized possession from being stolen. We are talking about ‘villagers’ kidnapping two people who they think stole motorcycles, tying them to a tree for three days, allowing them to be attacked by venomous ants until they nearly died and then terrorising their families with a ransom demand of four years the annual Bolivian wage. Everyone is entitled to their view. I don’t believe that nearly taking two human lives because you suspect they are motorcycle thieves is proportionate fair justice. That’s all I am saying.

[Loyal68]

My posts are in direct response to the content of the Visordown article – nothing more than that. We are not discussing the owners of motorcycles catching a thief in the act and using force to prevent their prized possession from being stolen. We are talking about ‘villagers’ kidnapping two people who they think stole motorcycles, tying them to a tree for three days, allowing them to be attacked by venomous ants until they nearly died and then terrorising their families with a ransom demand of four years the annual Bolivian wage. Everyone is entitled to their view. I don’t believe that nearly taking two human lives because you suspect they are motorcycle thieves is proportionate fair justice. That’s all I am saying.

And what if these poor poor folk were actually guilty as charged? Do you think the punishment fits the crime? Or would you prefer to see the three receive a jolly good telling off and a bit of compensation? ;0)

[Ducatista]

And what if these poor poor folk were actually guilty as charged? Do you think the punishment fits the crime? Or would you prefer to see the three receive a jolly good telling off and a bit of compensation?

I don't know their culture, so I'm not in a position to judge (perhaps people starve without their access to transport and therefore work).
I'm not against the punishment per se for the guilty, I'm against it for mere suspects.
We know there have been mis-carriages of justice in the UK and that's with our relatively advanced legal system - we've even hung people who were innocent.
I don't have an issue with hanging scumbags, but you need to be damn sure you aren't making a mistake and even with advancecd techniques like DNA it can still be contaminated or deliberately switched.

If that were you or your family and they were in fact innocent and mistakenly taken to be suspects then I'm sure you'd have something to say about it.
Perhaps you'd do something about it and that's how hostilities/wars start.

Nothing against it in principle - if you're 100% sure they did it.

[redken1]

I am not advocating that convicted thieves should go unpunished. The two suspects should have been handed over to the police. It is up to a fair trial in a proper court to determine whether or not a suspect is guilty of an alleged crime and not a lynch mob
IMHO there is no defence for the torture of a fellow human being in a civilised society.

[Florentine]

I am not advocating that convicted thieves should go unpunished. The two suspects should have been handed over to the police. It is up to a fair trial in a proper court to determine whether or not a suspect is guilty of an alleged crime and not a lynch mob
IMHO there is no defence for the torture of a fellow human being in a civilised society.

I agree with redken1 on this one, especially as, after 3 days of torture, the lads didn't fess up and say where the bikes were, (which I would if you just waved a soldier ant at me). This might imply that they didn't know. I'm not sure that handing them over to the police would necessarily have resulted in a fair trial though; as rude as we are about the British justice system, our police and courts are more open and transparent and less corrupt, violent and feared than in South America.