Traumatised Logan family pushes for tougher bail conditions for juveniles

A Logan family, whose two cars were stolen in a brazen home invasion last year, has offered help to the family of the Alexandra Hills crash victims who were buried today.

Rochedale South residents Laura and Joe Dul, left, with Vivian McDermott, middle, who want tougher bail conditions for high-risk juvenile offenders. PHOTO: Renae Droop

A Logan family, who suffered a traumatic night-time break-in in which their two cars were stolen, has joined forces with the family of killed Alexandra Hills couple Matt Field and Kate Leadbetter to seek justice.

Rochedale South mum Laura Dul, speaking out today ahead of the couple’s private funeral, said her pleas for tighter bail conditions for juveniles fell on deaf ears last year when her house was ransacked and the family’s two cars stolen.

Floral tributes for the couple at Alexandra Hills.

Mrs Dul said her five-year-old son had been left traumatised after witnessing four people break into her home just after 2.30am on February 5 last year before ransacking her house and leaving in the couple’s two cars, one of which was later trashed.

Mrs Dul begged for tougher bail conditions and foreshadowed the death of a family at the hands of high-risk juvenile youth offenders in a letter to Springwood MP Mick de Brenni last year.

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“It makes me sick to think of innocent families sharing the roads with these kids driving around in stolen cars while doing over 200km/h,” she wrote in last year’s letter.

“The fact that they are proud of these “achievements” proves that this issue runs deep and massive reform is needed.

“The residents in Rochedale South are fed up and are determined to bring about change.”

Now she is pushing for GPS trackers on all juvenile offenders; a clear definition of “high-risk offenders” included in legislation; and for comprehensive DNA testing of juveniles at crime scenes.

Joe and Laura Dul want justice and juveniles to be kept accountable; Alexandra Hills couple Katie Leadbetter and Matt Field; floral tributes to the pair at Alexandra Hills.

When she heard about the deaths of Mr Field and Ms Leadbetter and their unborn child after being struck by an alleged stolen car last month, she rang the family offering help to push for changes to youth justice laws.

Together the families are planning to organise a rally next month to push for an overhaul of the youth justice laws ahead of the first Parliamentary sitting for the year.

On Sunday, Opposition leader David Crisafulli called for breach of bail laws for juveniles to be restored when parliament resumes on February 23.

Two teens were charged on June 8 last year in relation to the break-in with one of those out on bail while the other, who was 15 at the time, pleaded guilty to 80 other charges in Ipswich Magistrates Court.

He was sentenced to 10 months in jail for immediate release on the condition of a community release order.

He was rearrested on June 13 and charged with new offences linked to stolen vehicles.

“The deaths of the Alexandra Hills couple and their unborn child should not be in vain but something needs to be done to keep high-risk juvenile offenders off the streets,” she said.

“If there is a proper definition of a high-risk offender, then the courts will have the right to lock them up or allow them out under monitoring.

“The law at the moment is very grey about what is regarded as a high-risk offender and what a magistrate may deem as a high risk is open to interpretation.

“The high-risk recidivists are the problem if they keep getting released back into the community.”

Police statistics from last year showed that the majority of crimes in the Rochedale South area were being committed by juvenile repeat offenders.

Police who investigated the Rochedale South break-in told The Albert & Logan News the “kids” knew how the youth justice system worked and were abusing it and said they were frustrated at dealing with the same youths.