Secrecy bid for alleged teen bomb maker
Total secrecy is required in the case of an alleged teenage bombmaker, police claim – meaning the public cannot know any details from court.
Police & Courts
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The case against a boy, 15, accused of making a bomb must be heard in total secrecy or police investigations will be “severely compromised”, a court has heard.
On Monday, SA Police renewed their Youth Court bid to have blanket suppression orders imposed over anything to do with the boy.
At the very start of his bail hearing, before any evidence had been discussed or submissions made, they asked all details of the case be kept from the public by court order.
They tendered more than 40 pages of affidavits in support of their bid, asking they too be kept confidential.
“It’s likely, in this bail application, a large amount of details with respect to ongoing investigations is likely to be revealed,” they said.
“We maintain our application that the release of any further information is likely to severely compromise the police investigation.”
The boy, 15, from South Plympton, has yet to plead to two counts of possessing supplies for, or taking steps in, the manufacture of an explosive.
He is further charged with possessing a document or record of information necessary for a terrorist attack.
The charges arise from his arrest last month – he faced a closed court after SA Police sought but failed to secure extensive suppression orders over the case.
On Monday, police prosecutors insisted they required total confidentiality to explain why they “adamantly opposed” the boy’s release on any form of bail.
The Advertiser opposed the application asking how, under state law, a court could suppress information before it had been said aloud.
Magistrate Kate Hodder agreed, saying she was “not disposed” to suppressing information without first hearing it, and declined to impose a gag order.
However she said that, on the basis of the affidavits, she was prepared to close the court while police made their argument.
The court has yet to release the outcome of the boy’s bail application.
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