Australia will press the United States for a full report on a military trial which absolved two US Marines of a brutal assault on an Australian man, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Monday.
The charges were dropped against one of the soldiers and the other was acquitted earlier this month of slashing the throat of a student, Heath Twomey, outside a nightclub in the northern Australian city of Townsville in February 2004. The marines were arrested and charged in Townsville, but were transferred to the US to be dealt with by a military court.
The transfer was accepted after assurances from the US military that it would deter US forces operating in Australia from engaging in similar behaviour and assure Australian citizens that servicemen would be held accountable for their actions, Ruddock said. "I am not on the face of it, without being satisfied, prepared to let the matter go without further inquiry, and that's where it stands," Ruddock told ABC radio. "I want to know whether or not [justice has been done], I want that matter tested."
| They had an open and fair trial. I think that means justice has been done. |
Ruddock said he also wanted to know whether the US prosecutors had appealed the acquittals. "I've asked for a full report on the matter," he said.
The victim's father, Ron Twomey, said his son accepted the transfer of the trial under pressure from US officials, believing he would get a swift hearing and that the penalty would be more severe. He was not called to testify. "He was assaulted by being hit with a bottle, he had his throat slashed, it nearly penetrated the jugular vein," Ron Twomey told ABC Radio. "I mean, he's still around and he's still with us, that's the most important thing from a family thing.
"So we're happy about that but how the whole matter's proceeded is just bewildering," he said. |