Qld politics: Govt may intervene to keep Allyn John Slater in prison

The state government may intervene to keep the murderer of an eight-year-old girl behind bars, Premier David Crisafulli has indicated.

Murder victim Trinity Bates, 8

The state government has not ruled out intervention to ensure child murderer Allyn John Slater remains behind bars, with Premier David Crisafulli declaring “animals” like him should never be released.

Damien Bates and Amanda Clarke for the first time opened up about their daughter’s murder 15 years ago as her killer becomes eligible for parole.

In 2012 Slater was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of eight-year-old Trinity Bates.

Slater, then 19, abducted Trinity from her Bundaberg home on February 21, 2020, choked and dragged her body through a storm water drain.

Her body was found the following morning.

The horrific murder rocked the small Bundaberg community, with Slater eligible for parole in August.

Allyn John Slater

Premier David Crisafulli on Sunday said “animals” like Slater should never be released from prison.

“My view is that individual should never be released from jail and never being released from jail would even be too soon,” he said.

“In my book, those people don’t belong in our society, and I would sincerely hope that the parole board looks at that and I’ll allow them to make their decision.

“Our society is a hell of a lot better with animals like that behind jail after.

Asked if the government held any powers to overturn a parole board decision, Mr Crisafulli said “it’s not at that point yet,” but did not rule out future intervention.

“Let’s see … we want to see the parole board functioning well again,” he said.

“You know that there’s been some rocky road in that space, so we want to see the parole board functioning well.

“I can only imagine what the prospect of him being outside does to that family and I think that individual should never be released from jail.

“Never would be too soon.”