First jail time a ‘wake-up call’

A 21-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba man’s first stint behind bars had been a wake-up call, the offender’s solicitor told the city’s Magistrates Court.

Mark Daniel Spencer was a reportable offender under the Child Protection Act but he had been taken into custody when he had failed to comply with a number of conditions of the order.

Those breaches included failing to tell authorities that he had set up a Facebook page on which were a number of photographs including one with two young children.

His solicitor Brad Skuse told the court those children were his client’s siblings and though his client knew his reporting obligations he hadn’t realised he had to report that to police.

The court heard the 21-year-old had also spent a few days with a foster carer friend who had four children of primary school age and a fifth who attended high school at the residence.

When the foster parent went to Brisbane for work, Spencer had supervised the children at the home one night, the court heard.

He had failed to report any of that to police within 24 hours as was his obligation.

Mr Skuse told the court his client had been kicked out of the home at which he had been living and was couch surfing at the time when a friend he had known for two years, the foster carer, had offered him a place to stay.

There were no allegations of any inappropriate behaviour by his client, Mr Skuse submitted.

The 35 days his client had spent in custody since his arrest had been a wake-up call for him and he had appropriate accommodation to go to upon his release from custody, he said.

Magistrate Graham Lee said the maximum penalty for such offending was 300 penalty units ($37,845) or five years jail which reflected the community attitude to such offending.

Mr Lee declared the 35 days as time served and sentenced Spencer to four months in jail but ordered he be released immediately on parole.