Convictions dropped despite teen’s shocking 19-page rap sheet

A Queensland teen offender with a whopping 19 pages of criminal history had recorded convictions overturned last year, despite a pattern of previous offending.

A Queensland teen offender with a whopping 19 pages of criminal history had recorded convictions overturned last year, despite a pattern of previous offending.

Court documents reveal last August the juvenile successfully appealed to have convictions related to three counts of car stealing and a break-and-enter offence overturned, with a judge in the Mount Isa District Court determining the original magistrate “erred in recording a conviction”.

“The conclusions that convictions should be recorded clearly arose from the 19 pages of previous criminal history that the juvenile had accumulated prior to this particular sentence,” Judge Ian Dearden said. “(And) the fact his reoffending took place three days after he was released, and where the offending was quite persistent, opportunistic and took advantage of vulnerable communities.”

Judge Dearden notes the Youth Justice Act “sets out the starting point, which is that by default a conviction is not to be recorded against a child”.

The judge also said that while the offences were “unfortunately continuing a similar pattern to previous offending”, they were not “an escalation of previous offending”.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has faced renewed pressure to overhaul the government’s response to youth crime after a man was allegedly killed by a teenager known to police last week.

The man’s death came just weeks after mother-of-two Emma Lovell was allegedly murdered by two teens who had attempted to break into her family home on Boxing Day.

Earlier this month, The Courier-Mail exclusively revealed a leaked intelligence brief prepared by Queensland police on a repeat 15-year-old offender, who had faced 80 charges without ever having a conviction recorded.

In the brief, police warn the teen criminal, who had an extensive history of stealing cars and break-and-enters, showed “no signs of stopping” and had a complete disregard for safety.

Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard said the significance of an unrecorded conviction was that it couldn’t be disclosed without consent, once the young person became an adult.

“This does not apply, however, to statutory checks such as blue card screening, or screening for taxi drivers or bus drivers,” she said. “Whether or not a conviction is recorded has no bearing on the penalty imposed, including detention. The record is kept forever by courts and police.”

Ms Linard also said the Act provided for the release of confidential information, if it was necessary to ensure a person’s safety. “One of the proposed changes to the Youth Justice Act is to ensure magistrates are considering a young person’s non-compliance with bail during sentencing,” she said.

LNP assistant justice spokeswoman Laura Gerber said the successful overturn of convictions for a repeat teen juvenile “shows how broken the youth justice system is”.

“Labor’s watered-down laws have made the youth crime crisis even worse,” she said.

“Our towns, cities and suburbs right across the state have been hijacked by young thugs. There must be consequences for actions.

“The rights of the victims aren’t being put ahead of these young repeat offenders.”