Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan takes aim at courts after Vyleen White’s stabbing

Police Minister Mark Ryan has accused some magistrates of failing to use their powers on hardcore repeat offenders.

Vyleen White was stabbed to death at a suburban shopping centre. Picture: Supplied/Facebook (via NCA NewsWire)

Queensland police are growing “frustrated” with courts after revelations a teenager accused of killing grandmother Vyleen White was on bail at the time of the stabbing.

Ms White was stabbed to death in front of her six-year-old granddaughter in the underground carpark of their local shops in Ipswich on Saturday night.

The Australian on Tuesday revealed the 16-year-old boy accused of Ms White’s murder was on bail for robbery at the time of the alleged stabbing.

Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said police had increased bail checks on young offenders, but officers were frustrated when courts released hardcore recidivist offenders on bail.

“We do get frustrated, I’ll be honest with you, frustrated when we see serious repeat offenders committing more offences,” he said.

“But like I said, it’s complex, it is complex for us as well.

“I think we’re doing a good job, I think the troops work hard every day.”

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

“The courts have every single tool in their toolbox to keep the community safe, every single one of them,” he said.

“Credit where credit’s due, we have seen in recent times court behaviour change, that’s why we’ve got full detention centres, that’s why we’ve got full watch houses.

“But I encourage those that aren’t to reflect on the community sentiment and use the tools in their toolbox, which are strong and measured and reflect the community expectation that the community should be protected.”

Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli said Labor had given up on improving youth crime and urged the government to remove the requirement for detention to be a last resort in sentencing juvenile offenders.

“Queenslanders are at breaking point, and for the government to give up on finding more solutions – it’s just the most incredibly heart-wrenching thing for Queenslanders to hear,” he said.

“What’s it going to take? What’s it going to take for the government to get on the same page as the rest of Queensland?

“If the government continues to say there’s nothing more that can be done, we will continue to put forward the solutions and we will intend to make this an issue so that Queenslanders know that there is a better way than what they’re experiencing.”

Premier Steven Miles has ruled out removing the provision in Queensland’s youth justice laws states that children should be detained in custody “only as a last resort and for the least time that is justified in the circumstances”.

Mr Miles has said removing the provision would be “dangerous and lead to more hardened criminals.

Asked on Wednesday whether police would support removing the provision, Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said police would “adjust” to any law changes.

“Even if the law changes, we’re still going to see young offenders get bail and we are still going to have strategies in place to keep the community safe, he said.

In response to growing community anger over youth crime, the state Labor government has overhauled bail laws for child offenders twice in the past three years.

Following a horror Australia Day crash that killed a young Brisbane couple Kate Leadbetter and Matt Field in 2021, the government removed the presumption of bail for repeat juvenile offenders charged with serious offences.

Under the laws, youths charged with serious crimes while already on bail – such as breaking and entering, robbery or assault – have to prove to a court they are not a risk to community safety in order to be granted bail.

A second suite of reforms, passed by parliament last year after the Boxing Day stabbing murder of Emma Lovell, reintroduced controversial breach-of-bail penalties for juvenile offenders.

Young offenders face up to two years’ imprisonment for breaching bail conditions under the reforms, which controversially override the state’s human right’s act.