TOWNSVILLE BULLETIN (Australia) 29 November 08 Man brandished `death adder' at woman in Townsville road rage incident (Malcolm Weatherup)
In a road rage confrontation in Townsville last month, a man brandished a snake at a terrified woman driver and her children, claiming it was a death adder and she was going to die, the Townsville Magistrates Court heard yesterday.
Jeffrey Leon O'Keefe, a 22-year-old stonemason, pleaded guilty to a charge of public nuisance and a second offence of the improper transporting of wildlife. Police prosecutor Sergeant Greg Mobbs said the woman was driving along Palmerston St with her children when she saw O'Keefe's vehicle begin to pull out from the kerb.
She honked her horn to warn him, and continued on her way, but O'Keefe took exception to the incident and followed her.
He pulled alongside the woman at an intersection, and racially abused her, calling her a `black '.
The woman was upset by O'Keefe's confrontation so she followed O'Keefe to get his registration number.
But when she pulled over to write it down, O'Keefe stopped a little way down the road.
When he jumped out of his vehicle and started running towards the woman, he was holding a metre-long snake in his hands, yelling: `This a death adder and you're dead'.
The woman told police she had been terrified and her children were screaming to have the windows wound up, so she drove off immediately.
When police traced O'Keefe through his registration to his Nathan St, Vincent address, they found four pythons at his home.
He was licensed to keep the snakes.
He admitted to police that he had racially abused the woman, and had threatened her with the snake, which was in fact a Bredl's python, only telling her it was a death adder to frighten her. Asked why he had the snake in his vehicle, he said he often took it for a drive. That admission brought about the second charge, because the law states that the only two reasons snakes can be transported in public is to visit the vets, or when moving house. Magistrate Laurie Verra fined O'Keefe $400 for threatening the woman and her children, and a further $800 for having the snake in his vehicle.
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2008/11/29/25445_hpnews.html

TOWNSEND BULLETIN (Australia) 08 December 08 Twisted snake's tale (Malcolm Weatherup)
A little knowledge on a complex subject of the law can be a dangerous thing, and jumping to conclusions is rarely a fruitful exercise.
There was a recent story about a bloke who, in a fit of road rage, threatened a woman driver with a snake, telling her it was deadly and she was going to die.
This bozo was charged with public nuisance, and with a second count of transporting a snake in a vehicle – which is prohibited except in special circumstances.
Magistrate Laurie Verra fined the man $400 for waving the snake at the woman (who promptly drove off, whisking her children to safety) and a further $800 for the second offence.
This prompted letter writer Cathie D last Tuesday to put two and two together to get five. Cathie believed the fines were lop-sided and meant that `clearly our judicary cares more about snakes than it does about women and children who are threatened, victimised and racially vilified'.
"Pretty much sums up the society we've become," Cathie concludes.
Actually, Squawker can only sadly conclude that, if Cathie's albeit well-meaning letter is anything to go by, we have become a shallow, knee-jerk society, reaching conclusions that suit our own opinions without any thoughtful examination of the facts.
The public nuisance charge (ie threatening with the snake, which, by the way, was a harmless python) carries a maximum fine of $750, and $400 represents 53 per cent of the maximum possible penalty.
The maximum fine for having the snake in the vehicle is $7500, and the fine of $800 represents just 10.6 per cent of the maximum. And Squawker can vouch that observing him as he does, that's an accurate reflection of how Magistrate Laurie Verra balanced up his sentence.
To suggest that he or any other Townsville magistrate takes Cathie D's suggested dismissive attitude to women and race is not only thoughtlessly rude, it is just plain wrong.
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2008/12/08/26715_law_disorder.html

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