Aaron Bell is sentenced to nine months jail and a two-year corrections order for the exact same charges as Brock Kusen, who walked free with a community corrections order. His case was heard in the same County Court, in the same court room, yet there were two completely different outcomes. I don’t understand how this can happen.

Is this because our Jess wasn’t married, wasn’t a mother, because there wasn’t a community outcry? This is not about anything other than a grieving family asking for someone, anyone, to help us understand why, how two men facing the same charges get two different outcomes?

Judge Paul Lacava stated that the maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death is 10 years, yet he commented that “there is no intention to kill or injure or otherwise harm” when handing down his sentence for Brock Kusen who was proven to be 1.6 metres on the wrong side of the road, with skid marks on the road prior to the impact on our defenceless Jess. Mr Lacava referred to this as “a low moral culpability” for Kusen’s dangerous driving, yet he let him walk free.

Judge Michael McInerey comments “the community would expect a person to be punished for such an act” when addressing the court regarding Aaron Bell’s actions. This is our justice system; judges deciding what they think is right or wrong, who goes to jail and who walks free, even when faced with exactly the same charge. Maybe instead of having a maximum sentence for ‘dangerous driving causing death’ we need to prevent other families from having to ask these same questions and set a ‘minimum sentence’ for this charge.

Yes, some people will be reading this thinking this family need to move on. You tell me how can we move on when a little over six months ago we had to accept the findings of a judge who decided our Jessica’s life wasn’t worth sending a man to jail for yet another man is sentenced to jail for exactly the same charge.

My wife and I are visiting Albury-Wodonga for the week. We arrived from Melbourne on Monday and read in your paper, with interest, about Wodonga Councillor Kat Bennett's concern for the health and welfare of exotic animals belonging to a visiting circus located on Gateway Island.

We could see that this issue of animal welfare and in particular that of the lions was creating some controversy. This inspired us to attend the show on Wednesday.

We arrived an hour and a half early to allow us to view the animals in their outside habitat. All the animals looked very healthy and well cared for. They had adequate space to move around freely. The two-hour circus performance was wonderful entertainment and no animals were anxious, stressed or forced to perform unreasonable acts. We commend Lennon Bros for the high degree of care and attention they devote to the welfare of all their animals. We thoroughly enjoyed the show.

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