Community
28 February, 2025
United against crime
THREE women have organised a rally for justice at Freedom Park this Sunday, demanding harsher penalties for rape regardless of age after an alleged gang rape at Manunda last week.
Brynie Rosser-Guyatt, Allissa Tenni and Emily Cocks-Wheeler have united to organise the rally this Sunday, March 2 to demand for justice, better protection for victims and a stand for sexual assault survivors after three teens allegedly broke-in to a couple’s home in Manunda and gang raped a woman at knife point on Friday, February 21.
No other details have been revealed about the teens except that two are 15 and one 16. One 15-year-old and the 16-year-old are facing 11 offences including five counts of rape, two of armed robbery and deprivation of liberty and more, while the third boy is facing 13 offences, involving counts of rape, armed robbery and deprivation of liberty, as well as obstruction of a police officer and possession of drugs.
The rally will take place at Freedom Park on the Esplanade near Cairns Hospital at noon. More details about the rally are still to be announced.
The group is called 'Cairns Stands United' and are working hand to hand with the Crime and Justice Action Group (CJAG) to organise the event and are demanding from all levels of government a response to the alleged crime with a call for harsher penalties.
They want harsher penalties for sexual assault, ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ for rape and deprivation of liberty and more support for victims.
Cairns Stands United founder Brynie Rosser-Guyatt said she wanted the Cairns community to stand together in demanding justice.
“I was enraged. Once I heard about the break-in and rape, it fired me up inside, people were commenting ‘What’s going to happen?, Who’s going to do something about this?’, and I said ‘We are’,” she said.
“That’s how we found each other, we’re just ordinary women, we’ve never done anything like this before, but two of us are survivors of rape and we just knew that we needed the community to stand together.
“Collective rage isn’t a bad thing if there’s a heart of gold behind it and I think this town has a heart of gold and we’ve had enough, we’re scared.”
The group said that since the judiciary system was being lenient on minors committing crimes like sexual assault, it was time for the community to step up and do something.
“There are predators of every religion, race, political view and ages. The point of our rally is that none of it should matter when it comes to upholding what the community expects in punishment for crimes, independent of race, age, religion or political viewpoint,” Ms Rosser-Guyatt said.
“We want people to bring their most peaceful messages. We’re angry and we understand this anger, but we’re not hateful people, this is about standing together as a community.
“We have all sorts of people on board. We have Brett Olds, the police, wellness groups and we’re getting our ducks in a row to see what that looks like for our rally.
“I knew this crime wasn’t included in Adult Crime, Adult Time and it terrified me. This leniency is sending a horrific message to perpetrators, victims and the community, and I’m positive that the community expects better when it comes to the judicial hearings and sentencing,” Ms Tenni said.
“Before, you would leave your stuff outside and hope that’s all they take, now it’s come to a whole different level where they’re still going to come into your home in the middle of the night when you’re sleeping and assault your body,” Ms Cocks-Wheeler said.
“We’ve had so many protests in Cairns over the same issues, when is it going to be enough for there to be a serious punishment?”
The women hope that the rally attracts enough visibility to prompt a change in sentencing for crimes like rape.
“We want people to show up so we can send that message that as a community we expect our judges to uphold the right punishment for these crimes,” Ms Tenni said.
“We agree that rehabilitation works but there should also be big consequences for heinous crimes because it sets a precedent,” she said.
“That pressure needs to be on the judges that are letting the community and victims down, which is causing more victims to not want to come forward. What’s the point if the perpetrators are going to have virtually no repercussions?”
Cairns Stands United encouraged the community to join the rally and take a stand together.
“We are the people, we’re not political, it’s not about colour or race or gender, it’s about being sick of our community looking like this to us and to everyone else,” Ms Cocks-Wheeler said.
“If you’re being let down by the judicial system, this is the opportunity to show them that we expect better, and we don’t want to take it anymore. We demand justice. We demand action,” Ms Tenni said.
“As our name Cairns Stands United says, I want us to stand together, not wait for someone else to do something,” Ms Rosser-Guyatt said.
“We want to support and let every victim know we’re survivors too and we don’t want any more victims of this to be created.”
The group is encouraging people to wear teal ribbons and purple flowers to show support for sexual assault survivors.
For more information on the rally, visit https://bit.ly/4bjJkww
