Brett Beasley slams state inaction on youth crime after fatal car crash

A man whose teen son died at the hands of a group of youths has slammed the state government’s stance on juvenile crime in the aftermath of a fatal accident involving four teens in an allegedly stolen car on Monday.

The father of Jack Beasley, who was killed at the hands of a group of youths, has slammed the state government’s stance on juvenile crime as “crazy”.

Brett Beasley’s frustration comes after Hemmant man, Michael Warburton, 59, became the fifth Queenslander to die in less than two years after being the victim of a crash believed to involve juveniles in allegedly stolen vehicles.

“It was sickening. It was absolutely sickening,” he said.

“How many innocent lives is it going to take for our Queensland government to pull their fingers out and do something about (youth crime)?”

Michael Warburton and his wife Anita. Picture: Facebook

Mr Beasley’s son Jack was killed when he was stabbed in the chest on a night out in Surfers Paradise in December 2019.

Earlier this year a teen – who was 15 at the time – pleaded guilty to murder and a second teen – who was 17 at the time – pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Three other teens were acquitted after an eight-day trial.

Since Jack’s death, Mr Beasley and his wife, Belinda, have become advocates against the rise in youth crime.

They have started the Jack Beasley Foundation which aims to educate youth of the dangers of carrying a knife and pushed to start a wanding trial which allows police officers to use hand held metal detectors in Surfers Paradise.

Mr Beasley said harsher penalties were needed to deter juveniles from dangerous behaviours.

“These kids need to be taught a lesson in real harshness,” he said.

“They need to come down like a ton of bricks and stop this.

“It’s out of control.

“If we don’t stop it now, it’s just going to keep snowballing and it’s going to be out of control. “It’s crazy.”

Brett Beasley has labelled the state’s response to youth crime as “crazy”. File picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr Beasley gave his condolences to Mr Warburton’s family, especially the children.

In the wake of a series of serious incidents Queensland Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard addressed the media

She said the government’s current focus was “breaking the cycle” by means of intervention and addressing socio-economic issues that often lead to youth crime.

“It is complex, there is no one simple solution to these issues,” Ms Linard said.

“It’s always a small number that disproportionately offend in communities, and that’s what communities are most concerned about, they want to know about breaking the cycle.

“We heard the community loud and clear that they want to have done and last year, we made announcements that we were changing the justice system, which we did, and we introduced tough new measures.”

When asked when former police commissioner Bob Atkinson’s review into the effectiveness of youth justice laws, including tightening bail conditions and the use of tracking devices, would be released, Ms Linard said the report was now “being considered,” by government.

“It will be released in two groups,” she said.

“I can’t give you a ballpark (timeline), I can say the government is considering the outcomes of that and it will absolutely be feeding into the release of the next Youth Justice Action Plan, and of course, I will happily release that when the appropriate consideration has occurred.”

A police officer at the scene of the crash that claimed Michael Warburton’s life. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Ms Linard could not confirm whether GPS tracking devices would be implemented as a permanent deterrent solution for youth offenders, saying it would be addressed in the review’s findings.

She did defend the considerable lack of GPS tracking devices issued to Queensland’s youth offenders, rejecting claims only three had been court-ordered since the tracker trial came into effect in last year.

“Since that was provided as an option for the court, seven young people have been required to wear GPS trackers,” she said.

“They (courts) have chosen to remand young people so when they haven’t been given the electronic monitoring device to be released into the community, they’ve actually been remanded in custody or put in youth detention.”