Family of teenagers charged over Lucy Paveley hit-run at Parafield apologise outside court
THE family of the teenagers arrested over the hit-run manslaughter of Lucy Paveley at Parafield on Sunday have apologised, saying their hearts are breaking for the mother’s children and husband.
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THE family of the teenagers arrested over the hit-run manslaughter of Lucy Paveley have apologised, saying their hearts are breaking for the motorist’s children and husband.
In stark contrast with the chaos that accompanied the teenagers’ first court appearance on Tuesday, all three were dealt with by the Youth Court in just five minutes on Wednesday.
The trio, whose identities are suppressed, are no longer charged with manslaughter and now stand accused of breaking into a house and stealing a car prior to Sunday’s fatal crash at Parafield.
Outside court, the legal guardian of the 13-year-old accused said he wanted to offer his “sincere apologies” to Ms Paveley’s family, on behalf of the boy and their entire family.
“We feel very sorry for the family, for what happened, everyone is heartbroken ... I feel very heartbroken,” the man said.
“We all feel very sorry for the family, very sincerely, and we all apologise.”
The trio were among five people arrested in the wake of Ms Paveley’s death in a crash at Parafield on Sunday.
It was the third fatal crash involving youths in stolen cars in the past 18 months.
Lyle Morrison, 18, of Pennington, has been charged with offences including manslaughter while a youth 15, has been charged with aiding and abetting those crimes.
The trio — aged 15, 14 and 13 — were initially charged with manslaughter, but those allegations were dropped late on Tuesday.
They were released from custody and then rearrested, inside the Youth Court, by armed police officers in front of their families and the media.
The 15-year-old was subsequently charged with car theft offences, while the 14-year-old and 13-year-old were accused of aggravated serious criminal trespass, theft and illegal use of a car.
Police said those charges “relate to the incidents that led to the fatal collision”.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the three boys said they would not be seeking bail — The Advertiser understands prosecutors intended to challenge any release order in the Supreme Court.
Mike Norman, for one of the boys, said he had yet to discuss the change in circumstances with his client.
“They are all going to be extremely confused, in any event,” he said.
Magistrate Cathy Deland said counsel “will have plenty of time to go see them” in youth detention, and remanded them in custody to face court again next month.
Meanwhile, the State Government and SA Police defended the actions of Operation Mandrake detectives and armed uniformed officers at the court on Tuesday.
Police Minister Peter Malinauskas said the rearrests of the trio were appropriate.
“The people that committed this atrocious and gut wrenching atrocity need to be held to account and brought before the law,” he said.
“Sometimes that process can appear a little messy on the outside, but what’s important is that we get the result.
“We know that there is a family here in SA that has been absolutely devastated through a silly and outrageous act of violence.
“We just want to make sure that the court process works through thoroughly to make sure we get the outcome that’s in the interest of justice.”
Assistant Commissioner Bronwyn Killmier said officers had responded to circumstances that “unfolded quite quickly”.
“We tried to minimise the impact but we had to act to rearrest them for serious offences,” she said.
“It wasn’t ideal but the important thing is that they’ve now been arrested and they can be put before the court regarding those charges.”
She said a liaison officer was with the Paveley family, and would be speaking to them about Tuesday’s incident.
Mr Malinauskas said it was “too early” to consider a review into the rearrests.
“I think all of us are feeling for the victim’s family,” he said.
“This is one of the most outrageous and appalling crimes I’ve seen in this state for some time.”
In a statement, Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber said his office had provided an “adjudication” on the initial manslaughter charges on Tuesday.
“My office’s written advice was provided to SAPOL later (on Tuesday) afternoon,” he said.
“Time was needed because of the number of defendants, important legal issues and the importance of speaking to SAPOL before written advice was given.
“There is nothing unusual in the period of time taken being needed in such a matter.
“The information my office has about what might be the evidence about the alleged conduct of the defendants is very limited.
“Nothing that occurred (on Tuesday) prohibits the prosecution being reviewed as the investigation progresses and more is known about the available evidence.”