Mandatory law change flagged after paramedic basher walks free
Mandatory sentencing laws, which have drawn widespread outrage after they failed to keep a paramedic basher behind bars, look set to be changed if an appeal against the decision fails.
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Mandatory sentencing laws that failed to keep a paramedic basher behind bars look set to be changed if there is no successful appeal against the decision.
There has been widespread community outrage since James Haberfield was allowed to walk from Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, despite pleading guilty to bashing two paramedics while under the influence of drugs.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien hounded Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday about why he had told Victorians last year that all thugs who attacked emergency services workers would be locked up, when this clearly wasn’t the case.
Mr Andrews said the government would wait to see if the decision was appealed, but conceded the message to the judiciary that jail should mean jail wasn’t being heeded.
“I don’t rule out changing the laws to make sure that the clear intent of the parliament is reflected in decisions that magistrates make. It is simply unacceptable,” Mr Andrews said.
It is likely the success or failure of a potential Office of Public Prosecutions appeal would guide whether laws are altered.
Mr O’Brien said Labor should have listened to the Coalition last year when it warned there were “loopholes” that could be used by courts.
This relates to the use of special reasons in sentencing, with the magistrate arguing this week that autism spectrum traits and the psychotic impacts of drugs were factors in his decision not to enforce a mandatory jail term.
Victim Monica, who withheld her last name, has still not returned to work since she was pinned against an ambulance and was repeatedly punched. She said the decision was hard to take.
“You put drugs in your system and I think, at some point, somebody has to take responsibility for that,” Monica told 3AW.
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“I don’t choose to put drugs in my system and go out and hurt people. I have empathy towards everyone.”
The board and members of Paramedics Australasia said they backed the laws being strengthened if necessary.
“If parliament speaks as the representative of the community, as it has done with this legislation, then a mandatory jail sentence must actually mean what it says,” the organisation’s president, Peter Jurkovsky, said.