Over at the Fundy Post, Paul Litterick uncovers a truly disturbing attitude on the part of one of New Zealand's gossip columnists. Here's what the Sunday Star Times' Bridget Saunders wrote last weekend:
Which very married media presence took a 22-year-old hooker to Asia with him? This is nothing though, compared to the 15-year-old hooker he enjoyed one day while the family were out. (He rang a knock shop and ordered in and when the girly arrived he was concerned at how young she was and asked her age. When she said 15, he first thought, "Oh dear" and then thought "Oh, what the hell, you're here now!")To Saunders, this is all one big joke, an amusing anecdote to be spread for our titillation. It's not. It's called child prostitution and child rape, and its a crime in every civilised country in the world (including ours). And like others, I am staggered that anyone would not know that, or think it was funny.
I know that gossip columns are not evidence that would stand up in court, and Saunders may simply be fabricating her material in an effort to amuse, but if there is the merest hint of truth behind this, she should be going to the police and naming names so they can get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, she's aiding and abetting a child rapist. And that makes her little better than one herself.
