A tragedy - and let's not make it worse

How horrific has been the death of three-year-old boy, Gurshan Singh? Pictures in the media show an innocent young boy whose death seems pointless, not to mention strange. How on earth did a child of that age end up some 20 kilometres away from his home unless someone took him?

I desperately hope that this does not end up being portrayed as another supposed 'racial' attack on Indian nationals within Australia merely because of the child's nationality. This has been tragic enough without a media beat up making it more so.

If someone is responsible for the child's death then they deserve all that is coming to them and more. Having said that, I have not long finished reading an account of the appalling murder of a young girl in Melbourne in 1921.

In response to a public outcry, public pressure and what can only be described as ineptitude by police and the judiciary, an arrest was quickly made and just a mere three months later, the accused found guilty and swiftly hanged, the accused's rights to appeal blatantly trampled on. Evidence relied on was hopelessly tainted, with the Crown's 'expert' witness testifying whether or not hair discovered belonged to the victim, making a totally bizarre finding that flew in the face of the facts. Only the determined efforts of a researcher 70 years later and the chance discovery of hair used as evidence in the case still in existence within the official file rather than having been destroyed, revealed that an innocent man was hanged. The real perpetrator was never found and almost certainly long since died of old age.

Let us not lose sight of reality, justice and due process in getting to the truth of such things including this tragic and puzzling loss of young Gurshan.