Fifteen years in jail as opposed to the maximum penalty of life in prison was the term High Court Justice Mario Michel sentenced 42-year-old Michael Crooks to serve for raping an 11-year-old girl two years ago.

Senator EP Chet Greene has charged that parliamentarians on the government side have descended down the slippery slope of dictatorship and have also conveniently overlooked the action to shoot down the reaction.

A government senator was yesterday ordered out of the parliament chamber during the Budget Debate in the Upper House.