Townsville Bulletin

Knuth can be safe in prison

- SHAYLA BULLOCH

TOWNSVILLE prison can safely keep an alleged child abuse material offender locked on remand despite claims the facility could not properly cater for the man’s disability, sources say.

Daniel James Knuth, son of Hill MP Shane Knuth, has dwarfism and was remanded in custody this week after allegedly being caught with child exploitati­on material.

In court, the 24-year-old’s lawyer claimed Knuth would be “particular­ly vulnerable” if locked up, while applying for Knuth to be released on bail.

But a magistrate did not agree, and a Townsville prison source said the centre had plenty of facilities to safely and adequately accommodat­e a person with a disability.

“This isn’t their first rodeo,” the source said.

“There are 24-hour nurses at the centre and disability-friendly facilities, which cater for a whole range of people who need them, including the elderly and those with conditions.”

Sources told the Townsville Bulletin that Knuth would be kept at the medical ward at the centre for the foreseeabl­e future.

It is alleged Knuth, who the court heard was previously convicted of sex offences, was trying to delete items from his mobile phone as officers arrived at his house last week. Knuth’s phone was seized and initial examinatio­ns found a video on his phone that allegedly showed a young girl between the age of 10 and 12 dancing and taking off her clothes before she engaged in a sexual act.

In 2019 Knuth avoided jail and served a sentence in the community after he pleaded guilty to other offences including using the internet to procure a child linked to his use of a fake Facebook profile.

He dodged custody for his previous offence because of his dwarfism and related toiletry needs in which he was unable to use the bathroom without help.

Despite this, a prison source said this could have been easily catered for in jail.

At his recent court matter this week, duty lawyer Rhianna Lee argued similar concerns if he was locked up.

“I am unsure Correction­s would have the facilities to assist him at this present point of time,” Ms Lee said.

Queensland Corrective Services did not comment by deadline.

Knuth is among a group of disabled prisoners who are overrepres­ented in the criminal justice system, according to QCS.

In 2019-20, QCS was allocated $2.9m to build on the successful Service Delivery Reform (SDR) project to improve service delivery for prisoners with disability or mental illness.

 ?? ?? Daniel Knuth was remanded in custody.
Daniel Knuth was remanded in custody.

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