Queensland magistrates give bail to accused teen criminals against advice of cops in majority of cases

Queensland magistrates have granted bail to young offenders against the request of police in about two-thirds of cases in the past 18 months, the state’s top youth crime cop has revealed.

Queensland Police Acting Assistant Commissioner for Youth Crime Andrew Massingham. Picture: Richard Walker

Queensland magistrates have granted bail to young offenders against the request of police in about two-thirds of cases in the past 18 months, the state’s top youth crime cop has revealed.

Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into youth crime, Assistant Commissioner Andrew Massingham said courts had recently been denying bail more often, but in the past 12 to 18 months magistrates were more likely to go against the recommendation of police.

“Normally speaking, we object (to bail for) between a third and half of those people that appear before the court,” he said. “As you know, there are a number of steps we need to go through before we present those affidavits and we tend to find that the court agrees with us on about one-third of those occasions.

“My observation in recent months is that more serious repeat offenders are being kept in custody now than have previously been kept in custody.”

Asked if there needed to be more changes to bail laws, Mr Massingham said police won 12 of 16 bail appeals in the Supreme Court last year and he believed the appeal process was “working effectively enough”.

The granting of bail to serious repeat young offenders has been a major frustration of police and victim advocates for years, but intensified this month after revelations the teenager accused of killing Ipswich grandmother Vyleen White was on bail at the time of the alleged murder.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal ­reasons, was charged last year with robbery offences.

Sources have told The Australian that police had late last year opposed bail for the teenager but he was later released.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said he believed that “we don’t have a bail problem but a judge problem”.

“It’s pretty clear on evidence given to the parliament that the judiciary ignores the advice of police,” he told The Australian

“Officers spend considerable time producing submissions with facts on offences and the actions of offenders requesting bail to be denied for the protection of the public.

“This evidence from the Acting Assistant Commissioner is confirmation of what I have been asking for, the establishment of a judicial complaints commission so magistrates can be held to ­account for their actions and the decisions made from the bench that result in innocent people being killed and the community being put at risk because offenders are released against the advice of frontline police.”

Police Minister Mark Ryan also took aim at the courts earlier this month, accusing magistrates of failing to use powers given to them under youth justice laws.

Bail laws for children have been overhauled by the state government twice in the past three years.

Presumption of bail was removed for repeat juvenile offenders charged with serious offences in 2021, weeks after a horror crash that killed young Brisbane couple Kate Leadbetter and Matt Field.

In a second round of reforms, passed by parliament last year after the Boxing Day stabbing murder of Emma Lovell, young offenders face up to two years’ imprisonment for breaching bail conditions.

Laws were also amended to mandate that courts take into ­account previous bail and criminal history when sentencing.

LNP police spokesman Dan Purdie said Labor’s 2016 decision to introduce a legal provision that children should be detained in custody “only as a last resort “ had created a revolving door in the youth justice system.

“Queenslanders are frustrated and police are sick of trying to lock up repeat offenders only for them to be released back into the community,” he said.