Mike O’Connor: How a young criminal just laughs at the law

Some in the Queensland judicial system are failing to protect the innocent from those with absolutely no regard for the law, writes Mike O’Connor.

So there you are, walking through the Queen Street Mall one fine and sunny day when a stranger approaches you and asks to use your mobile phone to make an urgent call.

What do you do? Being possessed of a suspicious nature, I’d politely refuse.

Others, however, being more charitably inclined towards their fellow citizens, might agree to help.

The case of a just such a person, a teenager who “did the right thing” and handed over her phone to a 16-year-old girl who said she needed help was mentioned in the Children’s Court of Queensland last week.

According to Crown prosecutor Sarah McCray, the 16-year-old proceeded to steal the phone when it was handed over.

Queen Street Mall. Picture: Liam Kidston

She then put the owner of the phone in a headlock and according to Ms McCray, “grabbed her throat with her hands and ended up dragging her through the Queen Street Mall, punched and choked her, to get the Apple ID password to her phone”.

“Bystanders intervened and the defendant and friends she was with told the complainant not to call the police. otherwise they would come after her and harm her,” Ms McCray told the court.

A few days later, the same 16-year-old appeared in court on a separate charge of violent offending.

She then headed back to the Mall and struck again, asking to borrow another phone and then trying to steal it.

In the melee that followed, she attacked the owner of the phone, “pulling her to the ground, stomping on her and punching her repeatedly and bystanders intervened and broke up the assault”, Ms McCray said.

The Children’s Court of Queensland was told the 16-year-old’s criminal history ran to 42 charges including robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, assault occasioning bodily harm and trespassing.

The court was told the 16-year-old’s criminal history ran to 42 charges including robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, assault occasioning bodily harm and trespassing.

She was sentenced to 15 months’ probation for the Mall attacks and no conviction was recorded.

If you were the owner of the phone and had been punched, stomped and half strangled then you might reasonably feel that justice has not been seen to be done – and you’d be right.

How many times do you have to bash an innocent person in the Queen Street Mall before you suffer any consequences? On the evidence, twice is not enough.

How about three times or five or 10?

The Mall is the most trafficked precinct in the city.

It has extensive CCTV coverage and there is a police presence, all of which count for absolutely nothing when there are those who know that they can attack innocent people, be arrested and be back in the Mall the next day to do the same thing and suffer no penalty.

Shoppers in Queen Street Mall. Picture: Richard Walker

The example to others who might fancy a new phone or someone’s handbag or wallet is plain to see.

Grab whatever you like, punch and kick anyone who gets in your way and if you get caught, laugh at the law and walk out of the court while police watch and shake their heads at the futility of trying to carry out their sworn duty to serve and protect.

If I took it upon myself to punch, stomp and choke someone in the Mall while attempting to steal their phone, I wonder, when I was hauled before the court, if I would be told to please not do it again and have no conviction recorded?

If I then went straight out and committed a similar assault, what penalty would I face? Another caution and a plea to please, please, please not do it again?

If you were the owner of a stolen phone and had been punched, stomped and half strangled then you might reasonably feel that justice has not been seen to be done – and you’d be right

It’s fine to say that incarceration doesn’t fix these issues but there is also such a thing as the rule of law under which we are all supposed to be treated equally and which allows society to function.

What of the victims traumatised by unprovoked assaults which could very easily end in a tragic loss of life or permanent injury?

What do the courts say to them? Sorry?

If people, and particularly those with young families, can’t enjoy what is the city’s premier shopping precinct without looking over their shoulders and viewing every stranger with suspicion then they will simply go elsewhere.

Elements of the judicial system are failing to protect the innocent from those with absolutely no regard for the law and who have been allowed to believe that they are beyond its reach.

This has to change.