Victim Survivors Deserve Better

COOK LABOR GOVERNMENT FAILURE SEES RAPE-ACCUSED RELEASED

The Cook Labor Government has serious questions to answer after a man accused of rape was released on bail in the Great Southern despite Adult Community Corrections (ACC) admitting in court it didn’t have the resources to monitor him.

It is the second time in a week that a lack of resources available to enforce mandatory GPS electronic monitoring in regional Western Australia has been exposed.

“This is a disgraceful situation. We now have corrections officers in court saying they don’t have the ability to enforce the Government’s own laws, and the courts are left to deal with the consequences,” Shadow Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Youth Adam Hort said.

“If the Cook Labor Government is going to introduce laws mandating electronic monitoring for serious offenders, they need to make sure the system works in every part of the state - not just in Perth.

“The Cook Labor Government can’t keep treating regional WA as an afterthought when it comes to public safety.”

The case revealed that ACC applied to have a Denmark man’s bail revoked because the Department could not guarantee the functioning of his court-mandated electronic ankle monitor.

The court heard that if the monitor was removed or failed, there were no local resources in place to respond, leaving the safety of the alleged victim at risk.

Despite ACC’s own application to revoke bail, the Magistrate stated the court could not be constrained by resourcing issues or other details the Government did not consider when introducing electronic monitoring mandates.

As a result, the alleged offender was released back into the community.

“Twice in a week we have seen evidence that the courts are choosing not to jail high-risk alleged perpetrators, when GPS tracking is not available,” Mr Hort said.

“Victim-survivors deserve better than a monitoring system that falls over the moment they live outside of Perth.

“There should not be a two-tiered justice system in this state – one for metropolitan Perth and one for regional Western Australia.

“The reality is, alleged offenders aren’t always being locked up - and when that happens, it’s absolutely imperative that GPS tracking is properly resourced in regional WA. That was the Government’s promise when the legislation passed, and they’re failing to deliver.”

Last week the Bunbury Magistrates Court was told that electronic monitoring of offenders outside the Perth metropolitan area was not possible due to a lack of resourcing, infrastructure and operational capacity.