There was an armed siege

 here yesterday. No, not in this house or this street or even this suburb - but it sounds "exciting" or, much more likely, terrifying doesn't it?

The actual siege took place on the other side of the city. It is being reported as a domestic violence incident. A woman has lost her life and another is in hospital with serious injuries - allegedly both shot their husband and father.  I don't want to know any more, indeed did not want to know that much. It is not the sort of "news" that I want to see dramatised still further in the media. I am trying not to imagine how the alleged shooter, now in custody, must be faring this morning.

The story however came out at an interesting time. My Twitter time line had turned up an article by one of the more respected journalists in Downunder. It dealt with another long running saga concerning the alleged rape of a young woman in the office of a Senator in our Federal Parliament. 

I use the word "alleged" here too because the case which went before the courts was never finished. The alleged victim received a rather curious and very fast "compensation" payment. There is currently an inquiry into the conduct of the case and there is clearly much more to it all than we have been told. 

What interested me about the article however does appear to be factual. The alleged rape is said to have taken place after hours in the office of a Senator. The media followed this up by reporting that a cleaner had been sent in the following morning to "steam clean" the sofa and clear up a mess in the bathroom. This has been reported over and over again and used, at least by the media, as evidence that the alleged rape must have taken place. 

It has always puzzled me. Why? Because nothing was said about this on the day when this "steam cleaning" was supposed to have taken place. I know enough about what goes on in the corridors of power to know that, had such cleaning taken place, the fact of it would have been around the building in no time at all. You couldn't hide something like that. It would have taken not just a few but many people to maintain silence, absolute silence.

No, it seems that the trial for the alleged rape was halted at a point where the cleaner sent in to "clear up the mess" allegedly found a tidy office. It is being reported he actually phoned his employer to tell him this. The bathroom where the alleged victim supposedly had a shower also allegedly showed no signs of use. 

Yes, I keep using that word "alleged". I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. I haven't spoken to anyone involved. There is one thing I do know however and I know it from personal experience. Anything of interest, no matter how trivial, gets around very quickly in a place like that. If there had been an incident of any sort then it is, at least in my view, impossible that it could have been so well hidden. It just could not have happened.

So, what happened? We may never know. The alleged victim has received a compensation payout from the public purse. We have not been told how much. We were told this was because she would never be able to work again even if she was able to find another job. It is interesting to note she does have another job, a job with the United Nations. In other words she has been employed by the present government. What is more she has been employed in a role which concerns the status and well being of women.

The story helped to bring down the previous government. The present government is still using it to make claims that, unless the matter is resolved in a court of law, should not be made. I doubt it worries them very much. They will simply be hoping that the inquiry into the handling of the case will produce results they can use to do further harm. 

And the "steam cleaning" story, a story which apparently would have been debunked by the evidence of the cleaner, is still on websites and there as a "fact". I remain puzzled by the fact, and it is a fact, that it was not reported on at the time of the alleged incident. Do you still want me to believe everything I read in my Twitter timeline - and elsewhere?