You’d be wrong.

Our legal system is underpinned by the principles of equality, fairness and justice.

And there’s nothing just, fair or equal about a young man being robbed of the opportunity to grieve for his baby brother.

It may be true this community is incredulous at the number of young criminals being granted bail at the local courthouse.

But the Rushby case is an extraordinary one.

Here is a young man who, according to police, was responsible for the death of his brother through sheer negligence.

The role of the justice system is to balance the scales of punishment and rehabilitation.

Jake Rushby’s punishment will be a lifetime of torment and recrimination.

He will forever remain a prisoner of his own conscience, regardless of the man-made bars a court might impose.

To come to terms with his actions, he must be afforded the opportunity to grieve with his family.

Without that, his chances of rehabilitation – whatever that means in this case – are grim.

IT’S not just is criminal cases where the law can be an ass.

A decision by Wagga councillors on Tuesday night to approve a controversial housing development near the city’s heaving industrial hub appears to be made under legal duress.

Some councillors reported feeling “sick to the stomach” after green-lighting a DA for 23 housing lots within a golf shot of an industrial sewerage facility and close to meat processing giant Teys.

They were left with little choice after council’s legal boffins warned voting against the development could cost ratepayers close to $100,000.

It seems the city has been left in an unedifying catch-22, where it is forced to accept a dud development because of the failings of the planning instrument.

We are constantly told Bomen will be the crankshaft of the local economy in the coming decades, an industrial nerve centre with all the sounds and smells that you would expect.

So why would anyone want to live next door to it?