‘Chaos shows system broken’
CHAOS on the streets translated to confusion in the courtroom as a series of gaffes put the “broken” youth justice system on display, Opposition spokesman for police and corrective services Dale Last said.
A group of teens was taken into custody amid an intense police operation targeting stolen cars as the vehicles ran riot across Townsville this week, ramming cars, writing off a caravan and running people off the road.
But it was what happened in the courtroom, behind closed doors, which prompted the former police officer to lash out at the state government.
A 14-year-old boy faced court on Friday without a parent or guardian and almost without a lawyer as his legal representative arrived almost 10 minutes after the matter began.
“I’ve got no lawyer and I have no parent or guardian. I do though have the Townsville Bulletin and the ABC,” Magistrate Steven Mosch said as he pressed on with the matter and decided an application to allow media to remain in the court without the boy’s lawyer being present.
Further complicating the matter, no one could determine if the teenager was on bail at the time of his alleged offending.
The teen was given watchhouse bail earlier this month but when he failed to attend his next court date, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
“It is not clear to me whether his bail was forfeited when the warrant was issued. There is nothing on the file that suggests that it was,” Mr Mosch said.
“It might be that even through a warrant was issued he was still subject (to bail).”
Prosecutor Cassandra Nitz said she could not determine if the boy’s bail had been revoked but that “from a prosecution perspective” it was suspended and there had been no compliance checks since the warrant was issued.
A 13-year-old girl who was arrested amid the same operation had her matter mentioned on Friday.
Mr Mosch noted that despite the girl being in state care, no one from the Department of Child Safety showed up. The girl was not present at the hearing, though her mother attended.
Just as the girl’s brief court matter finished a Youth Justice representative told the court a child safety officer was available on the phone.
Mr Last said he believed the state had “lost control” of the problem and that what played out in the courtroom was “yet more confirmation” the system was broken.
“You have to wonder how many more things need to go wrong before the government will finally take decisive action,” he said.
“When departmental representatives don’t turn up for court you have absolute proof that there is no co-operation between departments.
“It’s no wonder that the youth justice system is failing,” Mr Last said.