Dogged action on pig of a man
05.12.2005



By: Tony Koch


THIS is a story about a pig called Des who thinks he is a dog.
It's also about a bloke called Des, whose wife, Maggie Wilson, thought he was a bit of a pig and so named Des the pig after Des the bloke.
Mrs Wilson, a 53-year-old grandmother on Queensland's Mornington Island, later stabbed Des -- the bloke, not the pig -- and faced sentencing after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
Which brings us back to Des the pig, who thinks he's a dog, and who might just have a fair bit to do with keeping Mrs Wilson out of jail.
District Court judge Michael Forde turned to local elder, neighbour and lifelong friend of Mrs Wilson, Robyrta Felton, for advice on a suitable punishment.
Mrs Felton said her friend appeared to have reformed. She had tackled her drinking habit since the stabbing and had reconciled with her husband.
The pig, however, was a different matter.
``He thinks he's a dog and fights the other dogs over the biscuits, and is very noisy,'' Mrs Felton told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
``Maggie was very rowdy, but after this she became quiet.
``I said to my husband that Maggie is probably reforming. She took herself up to the hospital seeking help. But her pig drives me up the wall.''
The involvement of Mrs Felton, the Legal Aid field officer on the island in Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria, is part of a legal innovation in which community justice groups are invited by a judge or magistrate to contribute to the court process by giving the history of the accused or the victim, and making recommendations about possible penalties.
Judge Forde wrote an information booklet for justice groups last year, detailing their powers and responsibilities.
He shares the circuit with District Court judge Philip Nase -- a system that was designed to allow the judges to become familiar with local personalities and issues, and to encourage local people in the Gulf communities to have confidence in them and the court process.
In the case involving Des the pig, Judge Forde, who has been doing the twice-yearly court circuit to the townships and Aboriginal communities in the Gulf for four years, was left to contemplate the appropriate sentence for Mrs Wilson, and if he should intervene in the pressing neighbourhood problem.
He clearly decided that the wise option was to confine his involvement to the legal aspects of the case.
Judge Forde imposed a sentence of 100 hours' community service on Mrs Wilson.
His honour made no recommendations about Des. The pig, that is.