Annoying administrativia and bureaucratic blunders count amongst some of the most evil things invented by mankind save perhaps the really malcontent acts like war, murder and rape.
But being falsely accused of such acts by a simple clerical error can certainly lead to outrage.
The local paper story describes how a 64 year-old man fought against the System that accused him of the terrible crime; effectively preventing him from seeing his own grandchild because he supposedly fathered her with his own daughter.
It turned out the man’s surname and initial were the same of a currently jailed criminal. Naturally, the System refused to allow the incarcerated subject to see the innocent little girl.
The story works because the reader shares the frustration of the grandfather, who unsuccessfully contacted four different officials before The Australian came to his aid (thus restoring our faith in the Fourth Estate!)
He also spent a large amount of money on a DNA test and one can imagine his chances of seeking compensation through the legal system are slim.
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| You are a rapist, Sir! |
The follow-up article in The Australian was short and sufficient; it captured the outrage of the grandfather and presented the story in the light of the Communities minister’s lukewarm apology.
But I question the choice to include rape-themed stories in the ‘related coverage’ section next to the article. It looks like the falsely-accused man’s name will go down in the online media memory as a despicable rapist.
Frustration, sheesh, to put it mildly!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that the related coverage does compliment the story as they are stories based on this incident and the apology, maybe the Naomi story could be omitted...very loose relation to apolology.