Back on the streets Man lacks capacity to plead: Justice

A NORTH Queensland man who had his rape convictions quashed on mental health grounds has been released from his supervision order and on to Townsville’s streets, despite breaking the rules of previous orders multiple times.

The 48-year-old man, who has been diagnosed as a pedophile, was originally punished for historic sexual offences on Mornington Island in the 1990s.

More recently, he was charged with sexual acts towards boys in his home in 2014. He had these convictions quashed in May this year after a judge found he was not mentally fit to plead guilty to either.

The man was originally released back into the community in 2017 under a strict supervision order, but broke his curfew and was sent back to jail in June of that year.

A pattern emerged in the man’s behaviour, and he breached his orders two more times in as many years by assaulting a person and inhaling an intoxicating substance.

He was evicted from his housing in 2019 and sent back to jail.

Questions began to arise about the man’s capacity to comply with the simple orders, and a judge found he had intellectual deficits.

“This is the third Indigenous man from North Queensland I’ve had in about two months who had an IQ of about 50 and is caught in the system,” Justice Jean Dalton said. “And they’re forever caught in it, because they can’t understand the supervision order except in the most basic terms. This man should never have pleaded.”

His matters were referred to the Mental Health Court as he was deemed unfit for trial.

On these grounds, his supervision order has been lifted and Corrective Services is no longer responsible for him or his behaviour. The man is a long-term alcohol abuser and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1999.

Justice Martin Burns found he was a “serious danger” to the community without a supervision order.

He has been released into the care of the Office of the Public Guardian.