Editorial: Hard time with a whistle

Two recent restorative justice penalties are great examples of punishments fitting the crimes.

In the first case Darren Bolt, a Harlequins under-18 player, was punished after he saw red when he was handed a yellow card in the final minutes of a match on May 2. He intimidated and manhandled the young referee overseeing his match, dragging him a metre backwards by his collar.

It was nothing short of thuggery. Mr Bolt, to his credit his club says, showed remorse and realised the gravity of what he has done. He has been banned for two-and-a-half years, but this can be reduced if he completes his penance.

Where it gets interesting and full credit to the members of the South Canterbury Rugby Union's judiciary team for using their brains on this is in the restorative justice element of his punishment.

Along with the usual penalties of an apology and completion of the obligatory anger management course, Mr Bolt has to complete a referees' training course and referee games for 12 months. For a young player this is the equivalent of doing hard time.

He will have to get his head around the rules of the game properly and put himself literally in the referees' boots. Hopefully he will come to realise what a tough job it is being on the end of a whistle, not to mention the large-scale time investment involved. Completing the refereeing course and being made to spend a season on the end of the whistle is no soft punishment. If he has what it takes to complete the programme to the satisfaction of the Referees Association, his ban from the game will be reduced down to 18 months. It would be easy for him to simply give up on rugby completely but, if he truly loves the game, he will make good. Let's hope he does.

Environment Canterbury (Ecan) also deserves praise for opting to use some brains instead of just the stick in the case of Waimate farmer Mark Engelbrecht.

The dairy farmer breached the environment watchdog's rules when he put in a pipe to channel water that ended up damaging a nearby stream. Ecan had the option of imposing a $1000 fine or taking the case to the Environment Court to seek a tougher penalty. Fines for breaches of the Resource Management Act often have the unmistakable sound of wrists being slapped by big, wet bus tickets, so it is good to see Ecan looking at other options. Under the settlement Mr Engelbrecht will pick up the tab for putting the problem right, and also the bill for the time that Ecan staff put into the case.

In a case of farmer-turned-environmental-gamekeeper, he will spend the next year working with various environment groups looking at local projects. Like Mr Bolt, he has a golden opportunity to do some good.

Restorative justice is alive and well, and is great to see.

- © Fairfax NZ News