Botched Rape Investigation - AFL Player Walks

It seems almost unbelievable. Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than a night out at Melbourne's dodgy Crown Casino. Yet alone "partying" with the Carlton Football Club and sleeping with has-been Brad Pearce. But to wake up to find some disgusting prick raping you ... well it's just horrible beyond compare.

Well, that's what apparently happened to one poor young lady in 1999. Heath "The Culprit" Culpitt decided that, in the world of AFL football, it's one in, all in. One of his mates had picked up, so he reckoned he was in too.

Naturally, she went to the police about this crime. No behind the scenes pay-off from Culpitt's employer or "rape fees" paid from the AFL's coffers (as they propose). But this is where the story takes a breathtaking turn.

The police completely botched the investigation. The Assistant Commissioner (Simon Overland) said "We believe what she's told us but we don't have sufficient evidence to bring a case." Where is the evidence? The detectives assigned to the case ignored her calls for years, neglected to examine the crime scene, didn't interview witnesses for five years, failed to take any DNA samples and - get this - mysteriously "lost" the interview tape.

While Overland describes this as an "almost total systems failure", I would suggest this incompetence is of such a degree that we can't rule out corrupt behaviour. Are these awe-struck detectives so beholden by the bewitching spell of footy fame that they feel AFL players are entitled to a few rapes? Are they Carlton fans, perhaps? Did they ask for autographs? Do they collect stickers and bubble-gum swap cards? Were they just so excited at meeting their (22 year-old) hero that they lost all perspective? This possibility appears to have at least been entertained by the police top brass:

Mr Overland admitted that while most police were not reluctant to investigate famous people, he could not discount the possibility that some officers "wouldn't be intimidated or wouldn't have other reasons for perhaps not pursuing allegations against high-profile people as vigorously as they might". (The Age, 10/02/05)

Now, the boss is making soothing remarks about the detectives' culpability in all this, and asks us to trust the police - who showed no interest in pursuing justice in this poor woman's case - to investigate allegations against their colleagues (The Age, 14/04/05)!

To have been sexually assaulted by an AFL player must be a truly horrible experience. To be then subjected to unsympathetic, unprofessional and incompetent - or possibly even corrupt - investigators is harrowing and can only worsen the impact of the crime.

As bad as that is, we should not lose sight of the central allegation: that Heath Culpitt sexually assaulted a sleeping woman. It's telling that this crime of violence and misogyny (allegedly) happened in a group (tribal) situation just three days after Carlton lost the Grand Final. (This circumstance is an automatic "Red Light" on the AFL Player Threat Index - for this very reason.)

Please, do not pick up any suspected AFL players. Do not flirt with them or let them buy you drinks. Do not hang out with them. Do not even go near them. They are just too dangerous, and too likely to get away Scott free with whatever they want.

Citations: The Age, 10/02/05; The Age, 14/04/05

Word Count: 568

Tags: footy, rape, scandals

AFL Players to Get Free Priority Taxis

Some local cab company has had a brainwave: let's make sure AFL players get first priority for taxi cabs when they're out on the turps. Young, cashed up and under-educated footballers are already feted like heroes in this town. The resulting attitude problem is responsible for countless acts of violence such as rape and bashings. How will putting them further on a pedestal help this serious issue?

According to Yellow Cabs:

We think the public interest is best served by getting these role models off the street and into cabs quickly rather than them standing around getting baited and approached. (The Herald-Sun, 8/4/2005)

More importantly, what kind of role models can't be trusted to be out on the streets at night? Even the chief executive of the club in question doubts the ability of his young charges to behave, well, normally:

Perhaps we can take some of the temptation or the dangers of irresponsible thinking out of the players' grasp and push them towards a much more socially acceptable and obviously safer alternative. (The Herald-Sun, 8/4/2005)

I'd support this idea if the taxi cab service was "non-discretionary". That way, members of the public could call them in to promptly remove any AFL player who looked like he was about to kick off a drug and alcohol-fuelled spree.

I for one will not be using the Yellow Cabs any more. Not only will I have to wait longer for a cab so that some footy player can make his getaway from a street-brawl AND help subsidise millionaires' fares, but I'll have an increased risk of sitting in vomit, blood or semen - or risking a needle-stick injury. Yellow Cabs, you can keep your late, pricey, germy, risky service, thanks very much!

Word Count: 293

Tags: footy, spoilt_rotten, traffic

A Bloody Idiot

You have to feel for the marketing bozos at the Richmond Football Club. They've lost a sponsorship contract with the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) - reportedly worth $750K - because of one young dickhead. No other corporate professional has mult-million dollar deals hinging on a modicum of self-restraint by a large group of overpaid teenage prima donnas full of their own self-importance.

Hell, even in Hollywood business can proceed apace despite the shortcomings of the "talent". It's not only tolerated - it's even encouraged. Imagine this scenario: a bright young star of The O.C. rams a stolen ambulance through a police convention while smoking crack cocaine and performing an illegal abortion on his underage lover, splattering the lifeless corpse of the Puerto Rican homeless man he just ran over (and dragged for five hundred metres) into the gaping mouths of the assembled law officers. Sponsorship contract cancelled? Not a chance. It gets written into the plot and the episode is billed as "Ripped from today's headlines". The AFL marketers must be green with envy.

But back to Sgt "I know n-o-o-o-thing" Schulz: how is it that a 19 year-old probationary driver (remember, they're meant to be 100% sober) get behind the wheel of a car - while drunk - and decide to drive at double the speed limit in a built-up city environment? Was it the result of some late-night logistical problem that couldn't be solved with a $20 taxi fare? Or was it just a case of "I'm young, rich, famous and above the law. It's fun to drive fast while drunk, so I'll do it". Certainly, the $5000 penalty meted out by his club was no deterrent (what's that - one week's match fee?).

It's also worth asking what his team mates were doing at this time. Did they know he was about to throw away the sponsorship deal and jeopardise his life (and others?). There's an old Italian saying that it takes a village to raise a child. It seems it takes a football team to nurture that village's (bloody) idiot.

The next sponsorship deal the TAC strikes had better include provisions for breathalyser steering locks and a bunch of cab vouchers. Or better yet - I hope the board rethinks the value in handing out big chunks of taxpayer money to footy clubs in the first place.

Word Count: 395

Tags: footy, court, traffic, payola, booze