Opinion: It has been 12 years since my mother Marie Greening
Zidan was sexually assaulted, bashed and strangled by two youths.

They were aged 15 and 17 and it happened in front of my disabled brother.

The two youths had suppression orders put on their names to protect them, and to give them a chance at rehabilitation. Both have been in trouble since.

Appeals that would end up in the High Court in Canberra over the last 12
years have taken me on a journey of fighting the legal system.

I have long fought to have the suppression orders lifted from the two killers
of my mother.  To give my mother dignity, but most of all, for public safety.

The crime was such a sickening and evil crime. After their arrest the two
youths, unsupervised, rang me from the youth detention centre, leaving a dirty
sexual song on my answering machine besides other messages, laughing in the
background.

While in custody one threatened staff at the youth centre. One of the
offenders assaulted a young girl who was on a work placement, and the same
offender has broken his parole twice since being released.

The last time, back in 2010, he was not put back in jail.

How naive was I to think that the law was about justice?

What I learned is that it was never about my mother.  It was about the law
regarding youth offenders, and my mother never came into the equation and
neither did public safety.

Back in 2007 the Herald Sun took the case to the Supreme Court to
name the two killers of my mother.

The Supreme Court would not give permission for the case to go to the
Children’s Court, which has the power to lift the suppression order.

In 2010 when the offender broke his parole, there was outrage in a country
town when it was revealed one of the Granny killers lived there.  Victoria’s top
judge Marilyn Warren stated that there should be a national review of laws
protecting the identities of child criminals.

I haven’t heard anything about it since.

When the Herald Sun did a poll about naming and shaming the two offenders,
over a thousand readers agreed they should be named.

Last year the Director of Public Prosecutions went back into the Supreme
Court on my behalf, asking that the Children’s Court be allowed to hear an
application to lift suppression of the names of my mother’s killers.

Justice Bernard Bongiorno, who put the original order on their names when
they were sentenced, said no.

The lawyers for the offenders had argued that there was no public interest in
revealing their names and it would not assist them in their rehabilitation.

The DPP did not take a stance and I felt they just went through the motions.
I was told it was not about my mother, or public safety.

Marie Greening Zidan, killed by two teenagers who are now out of jail

These offenders throughout the years have had the best lawyers, that the tax
payers had paid for.

I was told I could appeal the suppression order, but no one would take up the
case.

After asking lawyers about pro bono representation, I was told if I was the
offender, the murderer, they would take on the case.  But not as a victim.

In America a lawyer would take on my case, as there are as many lawyers
supporting victims of violent crime committed by juveniles as there are for the
juvenile offenders.

I have met with the Attorney General Robert Clark in recent times. For
victims, he is the best Attorney General that Victoria has had, but he is one
man with a hell of a job.

The suppression orders have become a life sentence for my family, as we
always fear that someone else will suffer as we have at the hands of one of
these killers whose names will never be known.
It is still all about the
offenders, and their welfare. Even when they reoffend.

There is no thought for how we feel or the suffering of my family. And there
are many young people in our family.

There has been no help or support for them, none for my disabled brother, but
plenty of support for the offenders.

Shame on our justice system for being so one-sided.

For victims, the scales of justice will never be balanced.

Janine Greening