In Her Death She Remains as the Limit of the Systemt Notes Towards an Ethical Writing of Collective Sexual Violence JONATHAN MORROW AND MEHERA SAN ROQUE* But if there were a lesson to be drawn, a unique lesson among the always singular lessons of murder, from even a single murder, from all the collec- tive exterminations of history (because each individual murder and each col- lective murder is singular, thus infinite and incommensurable) the lesson that we can draw today - and if we can do so then we must - is that we must think, know, represent for ourselves, formalise, judge the possible complicity between all these discourses and the worst .. .1 Jacques Derrida, "Force de loi: Le 'Fondement Mystique de 1'autoritC7" Why did she have to be the way she was? People don't do things out of no- where. Ricko's life is ruined. Total. Total wipeout. Fifteen years locked up because she didn't know the limits.2 A Property of the Clan 1. An Occasion of the Greatest Regret: the Webster Proceedings On Wednesday 24 October 1990 Justice Wood, sitting in the Criminal Divi- sion of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, sentenced an 18 year old man, Matthew Webster, to a minimum term of 14 years penal servitude, with an additional term of six years during which Webster would be eligible for re- lease on parole: R v Matthew Grant Webster.3 Webster had entered a plea of guilty to the murder of a 14 year old girl, Leigh Leigh, on Friday 3 November 1989 at North Stockton beach, near Newcastle, on the central coast of New t "In her death she remains as the limits of the system in which she was killed": Drucilla Cornell, 'The Philosophy of the Limit: Systems Theory and Feminist Legal Refom" in Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld, David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice (1992) at 89. * Jonathan Morrow is a lawyer and PhD student at Monash University; Mehera San Roque is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Sydney. 1 Jacques Derrida, "Force de loi: Le 'Fondement Mystique de I'autoritk"'; "Force of Law: The 'Mystical Foundation of Authority"', (1990) 11 Cardozo LR 919 at 104-5; Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld, David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice (1992) at 63. 2 Nick Enright, A Property of the Clan (1994) at 5 1. 3 R v Matthew Grant Webster, unreported, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Wood J, 24 October 1990,70012190. 19961 IN HER DEATH SHE REMAINS AS THE LIMIT OF THE SYSTEM 475 South Wales. He was the fust murderer to be sentenced under New South Wales' "truth-in-sentencing" legislation. An inspection of the published reasons for his decision reveals that Justice Wood found the case remarkable. On the facts as found by Wood J, the im- mediate circumstances of the murder were unusually "callous and brutalV:4 . .. [Webster] forcibly removed her [Leigh's] clothing for the purpose of hav- ing sexual intercourse. He placed a finger in her vagina. She resisted and the prisoner then placed his hands around her throat and choked her to the point of rendering her unconscious. He then walked about five feet away and picked up a large piece of rock weighing approximately six kilograms, walked back to where she was lying and threw the rock, striking her twice on the left side of the head. These blows occasioned massive injuries, caving in the left side of her face and head and bringing about instant death.5 The other factor which, in the judgment of Wood J, placed this case in a distinct moral category was that the killing took place at a teenage party; a party which, moreover, was free from adult supervision. The abandoned club- house of the North Stockton Surf Club on North Stockton beach was filled with teenagers celebrating a 16th birthday. Most of the partygoers were Year 10 students from Newcastle High. On the first page of his reasons for decision, Wood J noted that so far as anybody was deputed by the host Jason Robertson to supervise the party, it was the 18 year old Webster himself, together with another young man, Wilson. Wood J in his judgment addressed the events preceding the murder in the following way: The victim, Leigh Leigh, was one who became affected by alcohol early in the night. At one stage she went to the sand dunes where sexual intercourse took place with a fifteen year old male person. She had previously been a virgin. The fifteen year old was later sentenced to community service for his sexual assault upon her. Shortly after returning to the club house she spoke of having had sex with this young person and of being pregnant. She was obviously distressed but this led to her being subjected to verbal abuse by a number of male persons, including the prisoner and Wilson. This abuse extended to her being spat on and having beer poured over her as she lay on the ground. She was also kicked and a bottle was thrown at her at one stage as she tried to stagger away. She went inside the club house where she was again spat on and had beer poured over her by the prisoner and another person. She then left the club house and sat on a grassed area a short distance away. The prisoner approached and walked her to a depression in the sand dunes approximately 100 metres away from the club house where he forcibly re- moved her clothing for the purpose of having sexual intercour~e.~ There was evidence that Webster, at the time of the murder, was under the influence of alcohol and cannabis.7 Justice Wood found that Webster's moti- vation for killing Leigh Leigh was his fear that she would report Webster's 4 Id at 4. 5 Idat3. 6 Id at 2-3. 7 Id at 5. Justice Wood stated that the disinhibiting effect of the alcohol and cannabis helped to explain but could not excuse the murder. 476 SYDNEY LAW REVIEW FOL18: 474 sexual assault upon her.8 Having pronounced the sentence to be imposed on Webster, Wood J returned to the theme of parental irresponsibility: I wish to add it is an occasion of the greatest regret that a young man has to be sentenced to such a lengthy term of imprisonment but it is inevitable hav- ing regard to the appalling circumstances in which this killing occurred. In that regard I wish to repeat my observations made in the course of the pro- ceedings on sentence that the greatest concern should be entertained in the community that this party should have been permitted to go ahead without proper parental supemision.9 Webster sought leave to appeal to the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal against the severity of his sentence. At the hearing on 15 July 1992 the Court comprised Gleeson CJ, Lee CJ at CL, and Allen J. The Court's rea- sons for decision were delivered on that day.10 Allen J gave the leading judg- ment proposing that leave to appeal be granted, but that the appeal be dismissed. These proposed orders became the orders of the Court. None of the boys who had been at the party were convicted of rape or sexual assault.11 2. Introduction: Girl Slain in Sandhills The rape and murder of Leigh Leigh was an extraordinary crime in terms of its sheer brutality, and the immaturity of the victim and perpetrator. Unusual too was the volume and duration of the discussion which has been generated by the case. The Newcastle and Sydney mass media, perhaps intrigued by the victim's exotically homographic first name and surname, reported Leigh Leigh's death widely, and with greater than usual persistence.12 The sentenc- ing of Webster almost a year after the event made news,l3 perhaps partly because 8 A motivation that fits in with a recognisable "type" of masculine homicide: the killing of a witness to an (often lesser) offence as a means of silencing, a type of "conflict resolution". See Kenneth Polk, When Men Kill Scenarios ofMasculine V~olence(1994) at 120-3. , 9 R v Webster (1990) above n3 at 10. 10 R v Matthew Grant Webster (unreported, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, Gleeson CJ, Lee CJ at CL, Allen J, 15.7.91,060582/90). 11 Although Webster had been found to have sexually assaulted Leigh Leigh: R v Webster (1991), id at 9. A 15-year-old boy was convicted of sexual assault on Leigh Leigh. It was reported that his sentence of six months in a detention centre was reduced to 100 hours of community service after an appeal: see "Drunk, spat on, sexually abused - Leigh's last horrid hours", Svdney Morning Herald, Tuesday 23 October 1990 at 3. 12 See: "Girl slain in sandhills': Sun-Herald, Sunday 5 November 1989 at 7; "A night of sav- agery: Leigh's last hours", SMH, Tuesday 7 November 1989 (Late Edition) at I; ''Girl's murder: youths tested'', Wednesday 8 November 1989 (Late Edition) at 4; Catherine Lumby, "Group rape: a crime that's far from rare", SMH, Thursday 9 November 1989 (Late Edition) at 13; "Leigh's classmates mourn to the tune of a Cher song'', SMH, Friday 10 November 1989 at 1; 'Tragic community suffers trial by rumour and suspicion", SMH, Saturday 11 November 1989 (Late Edition) at 3; 'New lead in girl's death", Sun-Herald, Sunday 12 November 1989 at 32; 'Zeigh case -two men charged", SMH Friday 17 No- vember 1989 (Late Edition) at 10; "Stockton men in court", SMH, Friday 15 December 1989 at 8.