In Australia it is now illegal to throw rocks. you get 5 years jail, even if you miss or dont do any damage.
You can also get jailtime for just HOLDING a rock.
You can also get jailtime for just HOLDING a rock.
SourceUnder extraordinary legal changes which remove the need for prosecutors to prove an intent to injure or cause damage, anyone who simply drops or throws a rock toward a moving vessel will be guilty the minute the missile leaves their hand.
It will no longer be a defence for an offender to claim they didn't mean to hurt anyone.
And it doesn't stop at rocks and cars. The Daily Telegraph has learned that the new laws will cover any manner of object that is thrown at cars, bikes, animals, trains or boats.
Following the recommendations of a special police task force set up to investigate the proliferation of rock throwing across Sydney, Cabinet voted in favour of a new offence.
It will fill the gap which has prevented police from prosecuting offenders other than under common malicious assault laws, which required harm or injury to be proved.
Although the new laws come too late for Nicole Miller, the 22-year-old Kiama woman who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage when hit with a 1kg rock thrown from an over-pass last year, her family welcomed the laws.
"Whatever they can do to stop these people from doing it is a good thing," Ms Miller's stepfather, Ross Tillet, said.
"There's no reason to have a rock in your hand at any time. If you have a rock in your hand you are either going to throw it or do something with it."
Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the offence would apply to any person who intentionally threw or dropped an object on or toward a vehicle or vessel on a road, rail or waterway.
"The act of throwing a rock at a vehicle is not only cowardly and stupid, it is downright dangerous," Mr Hatzistergos said.
"The Iemma Government will not tolerate this kind of idiotic behaviour. To deter rock throwers, we will legislate to make it a crime to throw an object at a car, boat or train, even if nobody is harmed.
"The prosecution will not even have to prove that the accused was aware their conduct risked the safety of any person, or that the object made contact."
Kiama father Peter Hogkins, 25, was last month jailed for a minimum of two years after pleading guilty over the attack on Ms Miller.
Last edited by Nappy (2008-04-24 00:15:27)
