Alleged Adelaide High School basher’s bail delayed, police refuse to provide evidence to lawyer fearing witness ‘intimidation’
A man accused of bashing a 24-year-old to the brink of death at Adelaide High School could “intimidate” an eyewitness and therefore should not be given the witness’s police statement, a court has heard.
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A man accused of luring another man to Adelaide High School and bashing him to the brink of death will remain in custody as bail negotiations reach a stalemate.
Magistrate Simon Smart has called for the Director of Public Prosecutions to appear before him in the Adelaide Magistrates Court because police have refused to provide evidence to the man’s lawyer.
The accused cannot be named because his identity is suppressed, as is the identity of the victim.
The court on Monday heard the 24-year-old alleged victim was in an induced coma with serious brain injuries and was unlikely to survive.
Police allege he was “set upon” by a group of men at Adelaide High on Friday night.
Mr Smart on Monday requested police provide the man’s lawyer, Stacey Carter, with details of a witness who was used to identify the alleged attacker.
But, on Wednesday, police told the court the investigation was in its “infancy” and they were not prepared to provide the witness’s statement to Ms Carter as they were worried the defendant would “intimidate” the witness.
Ms Carter said she had been provided with an unrelated 50-page statement “only moments prior to walking into the courtroom”, which she described as “very unfair”.
Mr Smart described the police’s refusal to provide the document as “extraordinary” and refused to accept it himself until they agreed to provide it to Ms Carter.
He said the DPP should face court to argue why the statement could not be released to the defence.
The matter will return to court next week.