17yo who breached bail in Top End while at funeral had been granted ‘compassionate bail’
A teenager with a history of noncompliance and a high risk of absconding was granted bail to attend a funeral before giving three adults charged with watching his every move the slip in a remote community.
Northern Territory
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A teenager with a history of noncompliance and a high risk of absconding was granted bail to attend a funeral before giving three adults charged with watching his every move the slip in a remote community.
This masthead can reveal the reason behind Supreme Court Justice Meredith Huntingford’s decision to uphold a now 17-year-old’s “compassionate bail” to attend a family member’s funeral.
The teenager was granted bail by Judge John McBride in the Territory Youth Court on February 12.
The Crown had sought a review of this decision in the Supreme Court, but Justice Huntingford upheld the decision on February 17.
She said it was a “delicate balancing exercise” but the application was for “compassionate bail for effectively 10 hours”.
Justice Huntingford outlined the teen’s criminal history, spread across 10 files.
The court heard he had previously breached his bail multiple times, the latest being in November 2024, after he absconded from a rehabilitation facility “a few hours after his arrival,” Justice Huntingford said.
In December, when the teenager was aged 16, he was arrested and charged in relation to a home invasion in Alice Springs, during which two-month-old Antonia Siguenza had her skull fractured.
Antonia and her mother were flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment.
In the wake of the attack, the teenager – alongside another 17-year-old boy – were hit with a myriad of charges.
Both are charged with theft, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and unlawfully causing serious harm.
Justice Huntingford noted how the teenager’s co-accused co-offender is alleged to have caused the injuries on the baby and her mother.
However, the teen seeking bail is alleged to have assaulted a 77-year-old man in Darwin during a home invasion in 2024.
He is also accused of assaulting his grandmother and his female teenage partner in separate incidents while previously on bail.
The youth also had “51 listed noncompliances with court orders on police computer systems” according to the Crown’s affidavit, Justice Huntingford said.
In the application, Crown prosecutor Dan Payne opposed bail, and said no youth justice officers would accompany the youth while in the community.
During a risk assessment of the teenager, Corrections staff had also deemed the risk the teenager would abscond to be high.
The teenager was granted bail and when he went to the NT community to attend the funeral, he is alleged to have slipped past three staff members tasked with keeping a constant eye on him, as part of his bail conditions.
Police found him less than 24 hours later, and he has been charged with breaching his bail.
During the hearing, his defence lawyer Jenna McHugh said the boy agreed it would be “stupid” of him to abscond.
The move would “make it worse for me” and he would “get a worse sentence,” Ms McHugh told the court on the teens behalf.
She further submitted it was a “very important funeral for the community” and as the eldest grandson the teenager will be carrying his grandfather’s coffin.
Given the cultural significance of the funeral, Justice Huntingford said the teen would be under “significant cultural pressure” to “attend and behave appropriately.”
“If he did abscond from the funeral, (the town) is a remote and relatively small community. He has in the past got away from (the town), by travelling, no doubt with others, but he could only so if had someone to accompany him.”
“Given he will be watched at all times by three escorts, this risk is somewhat reduced should he attempt to flee.”
Justice Huntingford’s decision was made in line with the Bail Act, which under subsection 24 A requires factors such as trauma, family circumstances, cultural background and needs, and more be taken into account when granting bail.
The teenager is due back in court on Thursday.
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