THE PRESS MONDAY, JULY 4, 1983. An offensive crime

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 20

THE PRESS MONDAY, JULY 4, 1983. An offensive crime

Kidnapping for ransom is a particularly offensive crime in a civilised society. The brutal bargaining over a human life that is the essence of kidnapping is an attack on the family unit. The suffering and agonising uncertainties endured by the immediate victim and by the hostage’s family are protracted and unremitting until the stand-off is resolved. Perhaps the most infamous example, because it held much of the world in its grip for days, was the Lindbergh kidnapping in the United States. Although half a century has elapsed since then, the revulsion evoked in decent people by that case has not lessened. Society marks its disgust at kidnapping with a law that provides for up to 14 years imprisonment for the offence.

In New Zealand, kidnapping for ransom is remarkably and thankfully rare. The small size of the country may be a factor in this. Potential kidnappers must realise that they simply have nowhere to go burdened with an unwilling hostage. As last week showed, however, the futility of the exercise does not prevent some people from trying. The kidnapping at Oamaru ended happily with the 14-year-old girl reunited with her family, distressed but otherwise unharmed. The offenders, who have gained nothing for their pains, are now being hunted and can expect no leniency from the courts. By

now the kidnappers must realise that their attempted extortion was not only criminal but stupid. The news blackout on, the kidnapping, observed voluntarily by all newspapers and radio stations in the country until the girl had been found safe and well, was exceptional, probably unprecedented. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr K. 0. Thompson, has said that the co-operation of the news media assisted in the safe return of the hostage. Publicity might have endangered the girl’s life; the lack of it meant that the kidnappers were in the dark about the response to their crime by the girl’s family and by the police. If the voluntary news embargo assisted in the satisfactory resolution of the kidnapping, presenting the story to readers a day late was a small price to pay. The Oamaru family might take some comfort from the knowledge that their terrifying experience could well have a good effect. Although it was carefully planned, the kidnapping has yielded no profit to its perpetrators. It should not be long before a determined police investigation brings the offenders before the courts. Prospective kidnappers will get no encouragement from this example and might be persuaded of the futility of the crime.