[FoRK] Can't we just ban stupid?

[Zee Roe]

FoRK debate turns violent...

"
The Scottish couple, who were staying in Tumut in the Snowy Mountains of
New South Wales, picking fruit as part of a year-long round-the-world
trip, had been arguing the case of evolution, while York, also fruit
picking, had asserted that humans had been created as described in the
Bible.
"

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=502173&in_page_id=1770&ito=newsnow

Backpacker jailed for stabbing man to death in row over God and evolution By
RICHARD SHEARS - More by this author
»<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/dmsearch/overture.html?in_page_id=711&in_overture_ua=cat&in_start_number=0&in_restriction=byline&in_query=richard%20shears&in_name=on&in_order_by=relevance+date>
Last
updated at 16:12pm on 14th December 2007

[image: Comments]
Comments<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=502173&in_page_id=1770#StartComments>
An English backpacker who stabbed a Scottish traveller to death during a row
about creationism and evolution was sent to jail for five years by a judge
in Australia.

Alexander York, 33, from Essex, had become involved in a bitter argument
over the origins of mankind and later, in the caravan park where they were
staying, the row turned to violence.

Scottish backpacker Rudi Boa, 28, from Inverness, fell dying into his
girlfriend's arms after being stabbed in the chest by York in January last
year.

*Scroll down for more ... *

Rudi Boa was fatally stabbed during an argument outside his attacker's tent

The Englishman, who pleaded not guilty to murder, was convicted of
manslaughter.

Justice Michael Adams, sentencing York in the New South Wales Supreme Court
in Sydney yesterday, said Mr Boa and girlfriend Gillian Brown, both
biomedical scientists, had met up with York at a pub in the town of Tumut,
near the caravan park where they were all staying, and a discussion about
creationism escalated into a shouting match.

The Scottish couple, who were staying in Tumut in the Snowy Mountains of New
South Wales, picking fruit as part of a year-long round-the-world trip, had
been arguing the case of evolution, while York, also fruit picking, had
asserted that humans had been created as described in the Bible.

"Although this became perhaps a little sharp-edged, it did not really amount
to anything," said the judge.

"For some reason, however, the offender's mood changed suddenly and he began
to abuse Mr Boa and Miss Brown.

"There was no hint of a physical confrontation and what happened amounted to
little more than a brief verbal contretemps."

The altercation had been defused by the time the Scottish couple left the
hotel. But witnesses told police that the pair had complained their night
had been ruined by a "bloke who had gone mental", describing him using
several derogatory terms.

The row blew up again after the Scots couple arrived back at the caravan
park, when all three were quite drunk.

The court heard that York, who had been making dinner, knocked a pizza box
out of Miss Brown's hand outside his tent as the argument escalated, before
stabbing Mr Boa with a kitchen knife.

*Scroll down for more ... *

Mr Boa was spending a year travelling with girlfriend Gillian Brown. He died
in her arms

York claimed he had lashed out in self-defence after being attacked by Mr
Boa.

The court heard earlier that she had then slapped York in the face and he
grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to the ground. It was then, she
told the court at the earlier hearing, that she saw "something" in York's
hand and heard him say he had a knife and would stab Boa.

She then saw Boa stumble back a couple of steps before he collapsed in her
arms.

The judge said he had handed out a sentence at the lower end of the scale,
partly because of the "accidental nature" of the stabbing.

"I do not believe that he took aim, but rather thrust out," he said. "I
think he knew that the knife was in his hand ... but he did not actually
turn his mind to the potentially serious consequences of doing this."

With time already served, York will be eligible for release in January 2009.

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