Accused violent armed robber Joel Gillard granted bail

A TEENAGER charged over a violent crime and leading police on a high speed chase doesn’t like it in jail. So, he’s been let out.

A 19-year-old who is accused of a serious armed robbery and who also allegedly led police on a high speed chase has been controversially freed on bail.

Joel Gillard has been behind bars since his arrest in May but was allowed out this week after under-fire Magistrate Bernadette Callaghan accepted his lawyer’s request for bail.

Ms Callaghan said jail was “definitely not a good place for him to be”, the Courier-Mail reported.

He has been committed to stand trial on charges of robbery with violence, assault, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and unlawful use of a motor vehicle — charges even his lawyer

Mark Howden conceded were “very, very serious”.

But he argued that Gillard was struggling in jail and had been threatened by other inmates.

The lawyer also pointed out he had no criminal history and had little memory of the crimes he was accused of, as he was in the grip of ice at the time.

Magistrate Bernadette Callaghan.

His application was opposed by the police prosecutor Danielle Hunt who told the court he was already on bail when he went on the “extremely serious” crime spree, the Courier Mail reported.

However Ms Callaghan granted Gillard bail with strict conditions. Although the offences were serious she made her decision based on his age and that he was in jail with sex offenders.

Gillard and Sarah Jane Boyd, 28, are accused of attacking a taxi driver with a tomahawk and robbing a service station on the Gold Coast before ramming police and other cars during a three-hour chase.

Ms Callaghan has been criticised several times over the past year by police for perceived leniency. In January she granted bail to a 58-year-old grandmother on four counts of attempted murder, attempted arson and interfering with a corpse, while in September she granted bail to a woman three times in one week, who allegedly then went on to commit more crimes.

Originally published as Accused violent armed robber Joel Gillard granted bail