AG Marie-Clare Boothby, DPP Lloyd Babb, deputy NT Police Commissioner visit Darwin court
The top brass of the government, prosecutions and police made a surprise appearance in the Darwin courts following a week of chaos in the justice system.
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The Territory’s Attorney-General has witnessed first hand the pressures on the justice system in a surprise visit to the Darwin Local Courts.
On Wednesday Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby, Director of Public Prosecution Lloyd Babb and deputy NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole were all seen visiting the Darwin court, a week after it was brought to a standstill as tough new bail laws clicked into effect.
Last week, already record-high arrest rates combined with the rollout of Declan’s Law, caused chaos with lawyers unable to see clients, missing paperwork and long delays for in-custody hearings.
Over her two-and-half-hour visit, Ms Boothby watched the grim and slow process of the lower court, with 21 people on the in-custody list — which was down from the arrest rates rolling in over the past seven days.
Ms Boothby still heard of multiple delays, including issues with prosecution staff turnover and issues with Legal Aid grant funding.
Judge Greg MacDonald was told drug and alcohol rehabilitation placements assessments would now take six to eight weeks, instead of the previous three to four days for a report.
“We really need those assessments, for his sake and everyone else’s sake,” Mr MacDonald said.
It comes after the Mental Health Diversion list was told there was no one from the forensic mental health team currently staffed to write reports, causing further delays for vulnerable prisoners.
The Attorney-General watched as Judge Therese Austin sentenced a woman to a 16 month stint in a cell, despite flagging it would likely send her further into a “revolving door” of imprisonment.
Ms Austin heard the woman had a history of alcohol abuse, but never made it to her residential rehabilitation placement while on a suspended sentence.
On Wednesday the woman pleaded guilty to assaulting her cousin while intoxicated in December, thereby breaching her suspended sentence.
Ms Austin said over the past 28 years the woman had been jailed 14 times for violent offending, meaning “she’s actually spent very little time out of jail”.
“She is at a high risk of becoming institutionalised — if she is not already,” the judge said.
Multiple lawyers have told this masthead the current conditions inside Corrections, pressures on the courts and the lack of rehabilitation would only worsen reoffending rates.
Ms Boothby did not stop for extensive questions as she left the court, but told journalists: “(I’m) just observing to see what happens, so I can see first hand the pressure and what we can do to improve our justice system”.
The Director of Public Prosecution Lloyd Babb said it was important for the government to see what was happening in the courts, and “all the good work all the different players in the justice system are doing”.
“We’re working hard to keep on top of the high volume of work, and it's hard, hard work,” Mr Babb said.
“But I feel like we're doing a good job in all the circumstances.”
The high profile court visitors also included deputy NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole who said he was there for a meeting with the Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris.
His visit comes as Palmerston cops prepared for the loss of their major watch houses to Corrections, reducing the Greater Darwin Area’s safe cell capacity from 140 people to just more than 16.
While the training cells at Berrimah’s Peter McAulay Centre was meant to be fully operational by the end of last week, a police spokesman confirmed on Wednesday this had been pushed back until mid-next week.
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