Keep DV thugs in prison
THE State Coroner is urging the Government to review bail laws to ensure extreme domestic violence perpetrators stay in jail.
The Opposition is accusing the Government of being secretive for not publicising the Coroner’s recommendation as part of its new Private Members Bill.
State Coroner Terry Ryan wrote to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath last month after the Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board reviewed a 2011 murder.
The shocking Gold Coast deaths of Tara Brown, Shelsea Schilling and Teresa Bradford will be the next cases to face similar bail options scrutiny.
In the panel’s report, a 35year-old woman referred to as “Kelly” was killed by “Robert”, her de-facto partner.
Police found an injured Kelly in the street in 2010, were unable to get emergency accommodation, took her to a hospital and objected to bail.
Her partner was granted bail and later despite breaching bail was remanded in custody only to be later re-released.
The panel’s report said Queensland’s Bail Act lacked provisions which specifically accounted for domestic violence cases.
“In this case, the protection and bail orders were consistent in seeking to protect Kelly,” the report said.
“The issue then arises as to whether these orders were proactively enforced, and whether there was a missed opportunity to remand Robert in custody, which may have potentially prevented Kelly’s death.”
Mr Ryan told the AttorneyGeneral that “this case highlights the potential benefit in reviewing the Bail Act” allowing the presumption in favour of bail to be revoked in certain cases.
Opposition MP Ros Bates asked the Attorney General why she had failed to provide the Legal Affairs Committee with a copy of the panel’s report.
Labor MPs on the committee late last week refused to support the LNP’s Private Members Bill, which calls for the presumption of innocence to be revoked in extreme DV cases.
“Labor’s Yvette D’ath should be ashamed of her secretive handling of this review and its important findings,” Ms Bates said. “The report is further proof that bail laws need to change and the LNP Bill should be passed.
Ms D’Ath said the report was tabled and made public on March 2. “There was clearly no attempt to keep it secret. The LNP’s politicising of this issue has to stop,” she said.
“We all feel for the families who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones and we all want to see an end to domestic and family violence and until recently we all have committed to a bipartisan approach.”