21-hour rooftop siege ends at Kariong Juvenile Centre
Police are in the process of charging 21 people with riot offences after 21 hours of bloody mayhem at a juvenile justice centre came to a dramatic end on Monday night when riot officers stormed the rooftop bolthole of the rioting detainees and arrested them.
Police are in the process of charging 21 people with riot offences after 21 hours of bloody mayhem at a juvenile justice centre came to a dramatic end on Monday night when riot officers stormed the rooftop bolthole of the rioting detainees and arrested them.
The NSW government has asked for an urgent review after the chaos finally finished at about 5.30pm yesterday when officers surprised the prisoners by climbing up on to the roof and arresting them.
Local detectives established Strike Force Mittabah to investigate the assaults and are now in the process of charging a total of 21 people (five adults and 16 youths) with riot.
The adults will appear today at Gosford Local Court, while the youths will appear at Woy Woy Children’s Court today.
MORE NEWS
Five in hospital after heater explosion
Daughter stabbed before dad’s death
Youth Justice NSW will continue to lead the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disturbance.
Three men continue to receive medical treatment at Gosford Hospital; one man suffered stab wounds and a collapsed lung, another suffered head and facial injuries, and the third man suffered a fractured ankle.
The arrests ended a day of carnage that started when four young prisoners surrounded an officer and took their keys at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre on the NSW Central Coast on Sunday night.
The inmates collected a bunch of garden tools, including a hedge trimmer, from a maintenance shed and released other prisoners from their cells.
Up to 30 inmates, many released by other detainees, then rampaged throughout the centre.
Seven detainees were seriously injured as the group targeted serious sex offenders. One of the victims, an 18-year-old man, suffered stab wounds and facial injuries and was taken to Gosford Hospital where he remains in a critical condition. Another detainee was stabbed in the head and hands.
Many of the rioting detainees then climbed up to the centre’s roof where they spent the night.
Prison guards had no option but to retreat and handed over the incident to police who spent most of yesterday trying to talk them down.
Public Service Association general secretary Stewart Little said the entire juvenile justice system had “descended into chaos”.
“They have set about, as we understand, with the intent to either murder those offenders or do very serious harm to those offenders,” he said.
“A number of those detainees are currently sitting in intensive care with stab wounds to the chest and head injuries.”
In total 20 males — aged between 16 and 20 — were arrested and remained in custody last night.
Tuggerah Lakes Police Superintendent John Gralton said those involved will be charged.
“It is certainly our intent to charge anyone involved in the riot, with the offence of riot, which carries 15 years,” he said. “These detainees really need to understand they will face the consequences of their actions.”
Of the seven detainees injured, three remain at Gosford Hospital with another two at Royal North Shore Hospital.
The PSA said assaults on guards had soared inside juvenile centres — one guard was attacked with a hammer in Dubbo just weeks ago and another recently had his leg broken — and yesterday were making three demands of the state government.
The group said an immediate safety audit should take place to remove items like garden tools and called for a judicial review to look at greater powers for juvenile justice staff to control violent inmates.
“We need to give our members power similar to corrective services (adult jails),” Mr Little said.
The PSA has also been on special “high risk” units for the state’s worst kids for the last three years.
An prison adjacent to the Frank Baxter centre, Kariong Correctional Centre, used to house the state’s especially violent young inmates but was handed over to the adult correctional system in 2015. Guards say, since then, they have lacked an intensive corrections centre to handle high-risk inmates.
NSW Police Superintendent Tony Joyce said they do not know what sparked the rampage.
“Look from, our initial inquiries it seems very sudden and unprovoked incident, and how that started is part of our inquiries,” he said.
“Our initial inquiries have revealed a number of inmates have armed themselves with makeshift weapons and have gone about assaulting other inmates in the centre.
Supt Joyce said the riot was unique due to the level of violence between detainees.
“All detainees have been accounted for, and the external security of the facility was not compromised,” a police spokesman said.
Paramedics called to the centre to treat the injured were forced to lock themselves in a secured area while the violence continued.
A fleet of 16 ambulances, firefighters and police initially rushed to the area to deal with the major incident before reinforcements were called in.
Firefighters and emergency workers inside the compound were ordered to lock themselves in their vehicles for safety.
Soaring ticket sales for Everest Day see extra police drafted as King set to make a cameo
More than 40,000 race goers are expected to attend the races in what will be the biggest crowd in modern history at the Sydney racetrack as excitement builds the king will make an appearance trackside.
Kidman farewells mother at private memorial
Actress Nicole Kidman has farewelled her late mother at a private memorial held in Sydney on Tuesday.