KEY POINTS:
I don't support the death penalty. Although it means the offender will never kill again, all of the research shows capital punishment doesn't deter others.
The legal processes involved in trials, appeals, more appeals and imprisonment on death row seem to negate the economic benefits of frying someone as opposed to keeping them locked up for a lifetime and, although I'm sure there are some who would love to mete out the death penalty purely out of vengeance, I don't know.
Locking someone up in a maximum security prison for 10 to 15 years seems like a pretty good way to get your revenge.
That being said, when I heard William Bell had been taken to hospital, and initial reports indicated he was in a critical condition, I couldn't help but hope he wouldn't pull through.
I haven't met the man, but his crimes and his lack of remorse appear to indicate a man without any redeeming features whatsoever. And the fact he's loathed by his own kind also points to an odious creature.
I had an idiot call me on talkback to say that it was reprehensible that the "system" allowed Bell to be attacked - "they" had a duty of care towards him.
Surely, however, Bell has to take some responsibility for his own safety and that would include not bragging about extra rights and privileges he is getting and not going out of his way to rark up his fellow inmates.
In fact, he's antagonised them so much, six of them have written to the Sensible Sentencing Trust complaining about the privileges Bell's been getting. Which is extraordinary, because, let's face it, the other blokes in there are no angels and most of them would be on the trust's hit list.
Talk about poachers turned gamekeepers. Many of the residents of Paremoremo's segregated wing are prison-fit young men, who've killed once, and some would have no problem killing again. They are not defenceless men and women, ambushed by Bell in a cowardly and cold-blooded attack.
His fellow cons are a different prospect. So antagonising them doesn't seem sensible, and any injuries Bell gets as a result of his posturing seems to be a consequence of a stupid action, rather than failure on the part of Corrections.
And besides, it looks like Bell will pull through. Sadly. And thanks to the care and skill of the doctors and nurses, who must be conflicted, he won't even lose his eye.
Dean Shepherd, the bloke who murdered his landlady back in 2004, has been charged with causing GBH, so there'll be another trial. And more expense. The price of living in a civilised country is indeed costly.
And I've been pondering my own stance on capital punishment. Can I really continue to be against the death penalty when I felt a sense of grim satisfaction on hearing the news that Bell had been attacked and was in a critical condition?
On reflection, I've decided it's an example of delectatio morosa - as Catholic schoolgirls, we were instructed there were many ways one could sin, and delectatio morosa is the pleasure taken in sinful thought even though one may not desire it.
So hearing Bell is suffering while not actually wishing to inflict the suffering is okay. Sort of. Sure, he was once someone's little boy and apparently has a girlfriend, so there must be people who care about him.
But it's hard for anyone else to feel any sort of sympathy for a man who's committed such heinous crimes.
I don't imagine there'll be many get-well-soon cards flooding into the hospital. And my thoughts are with the medical team, which was assigned to look after this man.
Some days a tough job must get even tougher.
