Gaol Time

This time every year, I think about two clients of mine whose son was charged with two counts of murder leading up to the Sydney Olympics, 2000.

In particular, I remember this…

The feeling of disbelief when I received the first phone call and then reading about it in the paper the next morning.

Feeling more disbelief when I learnt about the provocation and pre-meditation, preceeding the crime. Probably more so because their son was a client of mine as well.

The smell of disinfectant the first time I walked into the reception area at Silverwater Gaol.

My clients stumping up half a million bucks to bail out their son.

The difference between the barrister with a mind like a steal trap and the solicitor who should have stuck to conveyancing and parking fines.

How I seemed to be the only visitor who drove a car, regardless of which gaol I visited – Long Bay, Parklea, Bowral (before it closed) and back to Parklea.

The mother sitting on her own, waiting for a bus outside Long Bay gaol on a dark, cold winters day. She cut the most lonely, despondent look I have ever seen.

How my client’s son completed a double degree in Arts/Law while locked-up before he was acquitted on appeal.

This wasn’t my first client to have a child or sibling incarcerated and it certainly wasn’t my last.

What I remember is a tiny fraction of what my clients experienced, and heaven only knows what would have gone through their minds some days…

…will he be ok, legal costs, how long will he get, the list would have been endless.

But here’s the thing I remember most.

About two weeks after their son was charged, I went to visit them one night after work at their home, overlooking the harbour.

And during the conversation, the wife said, “…you know one of the things that amazes me most?”

“My mother is almost eighty and she phones me every day just to see how I am. She’s more worried about me than my son.”

And that will never change. Every parent is the same.

And every family has a story to tell.

Have a great weekend!

Adam

Back paddock – just before the above incident occurred, the Wallabies won the 1999 World Cup and I remember reading this quote by Rod Macqueen (Coach) in the Sydney Morning Herald shortly afterwards…

Things are never as good as they seem, nor are they as bad as they seem, instead they’re somewhere in between.