IN the June 8 edition a woman ‘over the limit’ driver was named, pictured and shamed disproportionately to a man for a more serious version of the same crime.
I think it was gratuitous of the Western Telegraph to give such prominence to a single mother who was 22mg of alcohol over the limit, when the man was 67mg over the limit. He was vastly more drunk than she was. He had three previous convictions.
She had one, five years previously. The woman merited nearly a half page spread with a 4x5in picture and a teaser on the front page while the report on the man’s conviction was four column inches and easier to miss.
Why did you shame her more? Was it because she was a public employee or because she was a woman, or perhaps because a picture of her was in the public domain and easy to obtain. I would like ‘Court Reporter’ to think how this usually responsible, employed single mother was punished through the court, then again through the paper, and again at the school gate and at the supermarket every time she is stung by a knowing look.
Drink-driving is wrong and I am glad the law protects us but she doesn’t deserve the extra punishment caused by the Western Telegraph.
MEG JONES
Llandilo
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