Magistrate Felicity Broughton yesterday fined Lourie without conviction after calling last week for a psychology report on him. It found he had no mental health issues. Ms Broughton had asked defence lawyer Steve Pica: "What is going on in this young man's head that this could be a joke?"
She reluctantly agreed not to sentence him so as not to "interfere with (his) continued moral, ethical and employment obligations" and rehabilitation.
Mr Pica said Lourie, who was visiting his mother while on leave from the Israeli army, had apologised in writing to the woman for "creating a real nightmare".
Lourie was now absent without leave from the army and would return to Israel where he "still has to be dealt with by his father for this stupidity", he said.
"Prosecutor Ted Combes said Lourie replied: "I was just joking", before the woman, who could not ring police because of her religious beliefs, consoled her son."
"As Lourie walked towards a street that bordered the park, the boy initially thought he was a family friend.
Mr Combes said Lourie told the boy "I'm not Jewish, I'm a kidnapper" and said he was going to put him in his boot."
I take this to mean that the woman is Jewish too. But what on earth do they mean by "could not ring police because of her religious beliefs"??
That can mean one of 2 things:
a) She does not believe in the Australian judicial system
b) She didn't want to get the boy arrested because he's Jewish too
t. wrote:I take this to mean that the woman is Jewish too. But what on earth do they mean by "could not ring police because of her religious beliefs"??
I imagine she was a deeply observant Jew, and it was The Shabbat. Aren't they not allowed to drive cars or operate machinery of any kind during that time?
