Jennifer Betts is a magistrate. She has made decisions on about 50, 000 cases in 17 years at 7 local courts in NSW. She’s also been diagnosed with adjustment disorder with symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Last month the NSW Judicial Commission recommended that Ms Betts be removed on grounds of “misbehaviour or incapacity” because of four complaints made against her between 2003 and 2009. The Commission recommended that parliament should consider sacking her.
Geesche Jacobsen of the SMH writes
Jenny Betts had been the rock of her family; when her mother died more than 30 years ago, when two siblings battled alcohol problems and when her father needed hospital treatment.
But Ms Betts, 55, had become so self-reliant, she never shared her troubles. She did not tell anyone when her GP diagnosed her with depression and prescribed anti-depressants in the mid-’90s.
Over time she was subject to a death threat, resulting in regular police patrols outside her home. Often she was the only magistrate at court without security.
Her GP had advised her that she should try to come off the medication some time in the future but needed to do so slowly.
In late 2008 she decided to try. Her son was boarding, leaving her better able to cope. Unfortunately, she did not consult her doctor.
Soon after that an uncle died in a horrific car accident.
It was after this that Jennifer allegedly used bullying and domineering behaviour in court.
Earlier this week Jennifer asked New South Wales MPs not to discriminate against her because of mental illness.
“I let down the people of New South Wales,” she said. “That was in a period of time that I was not taking medication for my depressive illness. I now understand that I am a person who needs to take medication for life and I undertake to do so.”
This morning The New South Wales Upper House voted not to dismiss her.
I have no doubt that Jennifer will continue to take her medication. She understands what is at stake and she is passionate about her job, her duty to the people of NSW and indeed to her son that she brings up alone.
I have a brother-in-law with a mental illness. He is not a magistrate and his mental illness, if mental illness could be seen on a scale, is probably a 10 compared to Ms Betts 1. But when he is taking his medication he starts to feel better and sometimes he looks for work. Sometimes the medication doesn’t work, sometimes he needs his dose adjusted and if it’s working really well he stops taking it because he believes he doesn’t need it. And then, when he is at the height of psychosis there is nothing you can do to convince him that he is sick, even when he tells you he invented money and should be ruling the world. You know he’s sick, he believes he’s Bill Gates. Or Jesus.
He comes from a loving and stable family. Anybody from his past would give you a glowing reference as to his character. But now that he is sick, nobody would recommend him for a job, not even when he is on medication. He has stopped being John* now he is just his illness.
In a perfect world he would not apply at an aftercare centre to look your children, he wouldn’t apply to operate a forklift or drive the cab that you are taking to get home to your family, But it’s not a perfect world. Far from it for a person with acute mental illness.
Should he be discriminated against because he has a mental illness? Sometimes I’m grateful that he is. Hear me out for a second because I live with the backlash of his actions. John* is too sick to be a magistrate, too sick to look after children or to take on any job where someone else’s life is in his hands.
Just like he would not be accepted to be a pilot if his vision was poor, just like he couldn’t be a company director if he was insolvent and couldn’t be a window cleaner if he was blind, he shouldn’t have a job where he could cause untold damage by neglecting to take his medication.
I am not judging Ms Betts, nor I am not saying she is not fit to be a magistrate if she continues to take her medication. I am also not for a second intimating that she suffers from psychosis the same way my brother does but I wonder if there are there some jobs where we DO need to discriminate against people.
Maybe sometimes people with certain conditions or illnesses should not be able to take on just any job…
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Mentally Sick Magistrate Pat O'Shane is in Australian Judiciary System playing with lives of innocent people and family and the findings and decisions of Judicial Commission of New South Wales reflect severe malpractices and corruption in system
It is an also an open secret that her Honour Magistrate P. O'Shane has been in unlimited times into and has an history of Controversies and has been several time delivered Controversial/Wrong Verdicts and for this she has been several times scolded by the Supreme Court as well as several times her Judgments/Verdicts have been quashed. The Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane has been prone to depression most of her life and was advised by her psychiatrist for psychosurgery. She has spent many years in and out of hospital for the treatment of Mental Illness/Depression and suffers from acute episodes of depression numerous times and is not in fit state to work at the time when this happens with her.
The Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane is part of Judiciary System of Australia for so many years and everybody knows about what she does “playing and destroying the life of the people and their families” but still she has not been removed from her position of Magistrate and continues to deliver most Controversial and the most litigious Verdicts/Judgements and of course she is always in news for her most ridiculous and disgraceful behaviour and her Publically shameful/outrageous and dishonourable remarks and still she is in Judiciary System of Australia for many Years and as a person from ordinary Public and a not “High-Profile person” as Magistrate Pat O'Shane it seems like compulsion by ethics to use the term “Her Honor” before we address her- “Her Honor Magistrate P. O'Shane”. And therefore if we have to have trust, faith and respect for the Judiciary system and have to address a “Magistrate” as “Your Honor Magistrate” which is matter of honor and respect it becomes very vital to remove Magistrate like “Magistrate Pat O'Shane” from the Judiciary System.
Controversial NSW magistrate Pat O'Shane has been charged for drunk driving and also had after months of protesting her innocence had pleaded guilty to drink driving.
An Apprehended Violence Orders (AVO) was taken out against O'Shane and the woman who sought the AVO from police worked with the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions. Ms O'Shane had been accused of intimidating and harassing her Hunters Hill neighbour, Heather Armstrong. Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane had reached an AVO agreement and had agreed not to go within 50 metres of her ex-husband's new lover following this court agreement.
In another case Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane had also filed defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald.
She has also admitted openly in her interview on Sunday Profile (Sunday, 29 May 2005 ) which was aired on Television( Interview New South Wales magistrate Pat O’Shane- Pat O'Shane on marriage, marital breakdown, depression and recovery) that she has been prone to depression most of her life and was actually sent to Sydney by her psychiatrist many years ago for psychosurgery. She had spent some years in and out of hospital and suffers from acute episodes of depression several times and is not in fit state to work at the time when this happened with her.
On March 29,2010 magistrate Pat O'Shane dismissed charges laid against Andrew John Armstrong that he assaulted police, resisted arrest and behaved in an offensive manner. Police prosecutor Justin Watson confirmed that he was contesting the March 29 decision by Ms O'Shane, who has a history of controversial rulings. THE Department of Public Prosecutions has won an appeal against a ruling by controversial Magistrate Pat O’Shane.
After an appeal from the DPP, the NSW Supreme Court on 26th August 2010 ruled Magistrate O’Shane verdict passed on 29-03-2010 and siad that Magistrate Pat O'Shane had ``failed to make a finding based on a correct view of the law about the lawfulness of the arrest.’‘Magistrate Pat O'Shane has failed to make a finding based on a correct view of the law, the NSW Supreme Court has ruled. Justice Davies of the NSW Supreme Court said Magistrate O’Shane had used ``intemperate language in a way that inappropriately denigrates’’ the police and the matter should be heard again by a different magistrate.
And the case of my brother Tanveer Mehmood Judgment/verdict was passed by Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane on 30-03-2010.
Yes one controversial Verdict she passed on 29-03-2010 which has already been quashed by NSW Supreme Court and the other controversial Judgment controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane gave is in the case of my brother Tanveer Mehmood(Chief Executive Officer of Customs/CDPP Vs Tanveer Mehmood)on 30-03-2010.
It is very highly likely that when she delivered her verdict on 29-03-2010 in the Manly court which has already been quashed by Supreme Court of NSW and then the Verdict she passed against my brother Mr.Tanveer Mehmood on 30-03-2010 she was undergoing one of the acute episodes of depression and should have been under proper care of Mental Health professional/Physiatrist and probably should have been in a Mental Health Facility rather than out and delivering Verdicts and playing with the lives of people and causing them irreparable/irremediable /irreversible damage. My brother Tanveer Mehmood who is/was going through severe mental stress and depression and other condition connected with Psychiatric and mental health and that was the reason he was admitted as an inpatient at Hospital, Mental Health Services, Sydney which deals with people having mental health problems. He was inpatient from 18-02-2010 to 09-03-2010 and was readmitted as an inpatient at St Vincent's Hospital, Mental Health Services, Sydney on 26-03-2010 as his mental condition was unstable and was not able to attend the Court on 30-03-2010 as he was in Hospital on 30-03-2010. As my brother was in Mental health Facility on the day Magistrate O’Shane delivered her verdict and a report on Mr.Tanveer Mehmood medical/mental condition submitted by Jacqueline Huber, Psychiatric Registrar to Dr.Peter Rofe on 30-03-2010 to the Court of Law which does states besides other facts that Mr.Tanveer Mehmood appearance at the Court of law would be damaging his Physiological well being considering his present distress.
Number of submissions have been made to the NSW Judicial Commission about the conduct of O'Shane. All have been dismissed. The public holds an opinion” O'Shane is more concerned about her own egotistical ambition than about the law. This woman has shown on many occasions that she is unfit to be a magistrate. She should have been sacked years ago.”
But The Judicial Commission of New South Wales with all the facts in front of it still does not take any stringent action by removing this magistrate from the Judiciary system and I can safely presume that there are some inexplicable covert in the whole system.
How can a Mentally Sick and such a Controversial Magistrate be in Australian Judiciary System?
Controversial Magistrate Pat O'Shane is playing with the life of so many innocent people and their Families.
Yes Power, Influence and Politics all go hand in hand.
There is Corruption and so many other Malpractices undoubtedly in this Australian Judiciary System.
Arshad Mehmood
Rawal pindi Pakistan.
Email:arshad_raja70@yahoo.com
I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety when i was 21. I was a journalist at the time - a job which not only exposed the illness due to the everyday stress and constant deadlines, but made my condition so much worse. Thus i bowed out, despite three years at uni and without sounding pretentious, being damn good at it too.
I am an optimist - i like to think that despite my illness i should not live my life with limitations - I can still do whatever I want, I just need to rethink how I am going to approach it. For example, writing is in my blood, it comes as easy to me as numbers do to accountants, but journalism isn't good for my health. Instead, I intend to write a book - at my own pace, in my own time. Whether it gets published is irrelevant. You have to look for other ways to achieve your goals, and not give up on them. I guess you could say it is a comprimise. It is not other people's job to look after you, YOU have to be your biggest supporter and do what you think is best for YOU.
There is a realist in me though and that part of me says there are certain jobs that people with certain illness should perhaps avoid (for their own sake and not just talking about mental illness) - but the person themselves needs to reach that conclusion - it should not be mandated by someone else who has no idea on how well the illness is being managed or what the persons capabilities are. Only the person with the illness knows that and they need to be honest with themselves! Why put yourself in a position which could worsen your condition? Each day is a gift and while people have bills to pay, work within your means and do whatever feeds your soul on the side!
One final note - mental illness is such a broad term. I often talk to my psychiatrist about what needs to be done to rid society of the stigma and his main suggestion was for people (particularly the media and government) to be more specific. Mental illness can range from mild depression all the way to schizophrenia and alike and reading comments regarding Lana's story and the confusion surrounding what 'level' of mental illness she refers to, highlights this. We need to lose the term mental illness altogether and call each individual condition what it is because they all differ so much and one umbrella term does more harm than good. Depression. Anxiety. Bipolar. Schizophrenia. If a person has an infected toe, we don't say a 'foot injury' we say infected toe.
It has taken me seven long years since I was diagnosed to reach the conclusions that I have but they are my own conclusions. Like every condition differs, so do people's ideas. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. To all those that live with depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia etc, stay strong and never give up the fight. We are the people who can change society's attitudes - be open and don't live in shame. Follow your dreams always xxx