Media locked out as Cairns teens appear in court charged with rape after sickening home invasion
Reporters were locked out of the Innisfail Court House this morning as three teens appeared charged with rape following a sickening home invasion at Manunda.
Cairns
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Reporters were locked out of the Innisfail Court House this morning as three teens appeared charged with rape following a sickening home invasion in Cairns.
The boys, two aged 15 and one aged 16, appeared before Magistrate Simon Young on Saturday morning while media were met with locked doors at the front of the building.
The boys are each facing five counts of rape and two counts each of armed robbery and deprivation of liberty after a woman was taken at knifepoint and raped while a blade was held to her husband’s throat in a sickening home invasion, allegedly at the hands of the teens.
The incident has shocked the state and senior police.
The husband and wife in their 30s were asleep in their bed when they were allegedly woken by the three teenage boys – two aged 15 and one 16 – who held them at knifepoint about 3.30am.
As one of boys allegedly held the knife to the man, the other two took the woman to an outside area of the Manunda home where she was raped.
None of the teens applied for bail.
Following the hearing, staff opened the doors and reporters were granted access to the court.
Magistrate Young told journalists all three boys received adjournments so that briefs of evidence could be prepared.
Two of the boys are scheduled to appear in Cairns on Monday, and the third was adjourned to April 28.
Speaking to media, Magistrate Young indicated his confusion at the lack of media presence in the courtroom.
Magistrate Young said apart from requests for adjournments, there were no other substantive requests made such as bail.
Originally published as Media locked out as Cairns teens appear in court charged with rape after sickening home invasion
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