No exploding Jihadis today. Today’s future Darwin Award winner is a member of the tribe.
Or so he would have us believe.
A WA judge has ruled against a man who argued he could not wear a bike helmet because he was wearing a kippah – or Jewish skullcap.
Justice David Allanson handed down the decision this week after Simon Thomas sought to have his conviction overturned.
Mr Thomas was originally convicted for failing to wear a bike helmet while “scooting” down Barrack St in February last year.
During his trial in Perth Magistrate’s Court, he argued he couldn’t wear his bike helmet because he was wearing his kippah.
He also argued that he wasn’t actually riding his bike but was “next to it” and that he was “scooting” or “coasting” because he had his left foot on the right pedal.
However the magistrate disagreed and he was convicted of not wearing a helmet.
Incensed by the decision Mr Thomas took the matter all the way to the WA Supreme Court arguing the magistrate refused to allow him to refresh his memory during the initial trial, and that his finding was based on “inadmissable testimony”.
He claimed an experiment to test the “scooting” theory conducted by one of the police officers who issued the fine should not be relied upon.
During the original trial, Mr Thomas told the court a few weeks after he received the traffic infringement he realised it was the day of his birthday, which he said was one of three days a year he wore his kippah.
He said he could not wear his helmet while he was wearing a kippah. However, he also said he would “not generally” or “not necessarily” wear it.
The magistrate found there was a reasonable possibility that Mr Thomas was wearing a skullcap, highlighting that there was exemptions in the legislation for religious and cultural reasons for not placing anything over the skullcap.
But he ruled that there was no evidence the skullcap made wearing the helmet impractical.
I don’t know where to start with this. But I’ll try.
The tradition to wear a kippah evolved as a sign of our recognition that there is Someone “above” us who watches our every act. Jewish men are supposed to cover their heads for this reason. A bicycle helmet is still a head covering, so Thomas would not have broken the halacha (Jewish law) by wearing it.
Halacha he clearly does not keep anyway, since he claims he wears the kippah only 3 times a year.
But the idiocy of this guy’s defence does not stop there.
Wearing a bicycle helmet is way more important than wearing a kippah. Because in Jewish law, you cannot put your life in danger like that. In fact, if your life is in danger, you can break almost every other Jewish law.
Which brings me to my final point as to why Mr Thomas should change his first name to ‘John.’
Here’s a photo of a regular kippah, as worn by Justin Beiber (before he completely lost the plot)
There’s no way that’s interfering with a bicycle helmet.
