KIDS, don’t try this at home.
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Wagga tradie Isaac MacKenzie’s audacious and courageous attempt to collar a thief last week was admirable.
But the outcome was nearly catastrophic.
After being alerted that two teens had rifled through his parked truck and plucked out his phone and wallet, Mr Mackenzie acted on raw instinct.
With the help of his boss, he chased down the teens and affected a citizen’s arrest.
What happened next will stay with Mr Mackenzie forever.
Employing the old “I can’t breathe” ruse, one of the teens deftly reached into his pocket and whipped out a screwdriver, threatening to stab Mr Mackenzie.
The tradie, who is built like a brick outhouse, quickly pushed his would-be attacker down a hill and the teen scurried away like the sewer rat he is.
If not for Mr Mackenzie’s quick thinking, he could easily have gone from petty theft victim to serious assault victim.
The botched citizen’s arrest should act as a cautionary tale to all of us.
While it’s tempting to think we could mete out a dose of “street justice” to a would-be intruder, it rarely plays out like the movies.
Drug addicted thieves have nothing to lose and everything to gain by assaulting their way out of a certain criminal charge.
Almost as worrying is the fact any victim who uses what the police deem “excessive force” could end up in the dock themselves.
It's not worth the potential legal pain.
No one, of course, should begrudge Mr Mackenzie for what amounts to an act of valor.
But we should remember the court of justice is a vastly different place to the court of public opinion.
The appetite for vigilantism is fuelled by a perceived soft underbelly in that court system.
All too often, young offenders are whipped with the proverbial wet lettuce, handed sentences that don't deter them from re-offending.
It’s the ultimate perversion of justice: victims are left financially punished and emotionally scarred, while perpetrators are effectively told there are no meaningful consequences to their actions.
Too many good people in Wagga are becoming victims.
While ever such unfairness exists, the potential for vigilantism will too. It’s time the justice system lived up to its name.