Meth addict’s dad pleads: ‘Lock up my daughter or people will die’

An angry and frustrated Gold Coast father has slammed Queensland’s “revolving door” justice system.

The woman is due for parole in 2025. (File picture)

An angry and frustrated Gold Coast father has slammed Queensland’s “revolving door” justice system, saying he had to beg parole officials to keep his ice addict and serial criminal daughter behind bars for fear she could kill an innocent person in a stolen car.

The father, a respected and well-known Coast professional whose 31-year-old daughter has been battling a meth habit on and off for 13 years, said he was forced to intervene after she was repeatedly released or allowed to remain on parole only to reoffend.

The young mother of two, who is on parole until next year, was rearrested last week for a string of offences just two months after she was bailed on more charges.

She was set to make another bail bid this week, prompting her desperate dad to plead with the Parole Board to revoke her parole.

In an impassioned letter to the board, seen by The Courier-Mail, he said: “It should never get to a position where a father of a 31-year-old has to force the system to incarcerate his daughter.”

“It is farcical that a system supposedly in place to protect the parolee, hold them to account, and provide protection to the wider community whose homes and vehicles are being rampaged by offenders like my daughter,” he wrote.

The man said his daughter was already on parole when she was arrested in early August for car stealing and drug offences.

But she was released by a magistrate and bailed to live in a Surfers Paradise halfway house – a notorious high-rise where her co-offender was also staying.

She was arrested again last week in an allegedly stolen car and charged with offences including burglary, disqualified driving, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and possessing a drug utensil.

“These offences are her ‘go-to’ offences … the only time she stops is when she is placed on remand, and later sentenced,” the father told the Parole Board in the letter.

“Her history clearly shows she cannot quit ice in the community. Her current parole order extends until March 2025.”

The father, who with his wife is caring for their daughter’s children, said she regularly fails drug tests at the Southport parole office.

“I have rung that office out of frustration only to be given scripted responses as to why they can’t divulge information,” he said.

The father criticised the state’s ‘revolving door’ justice system.

“They almost leave me feeling that ‘I am the problem’ yet the media rightly reports national front page stories on people, high on ice, in stolen cars, committing offences, on parole orders, still in the community wreaking havoc.

“Each time I have rung the Southport parole office I have advised them that I am not seeking information about my daughter (they quote the privacy act to me regularly). I know the offences she is committing as the police are in regular contact with me, given I have full-time court-ordered custody of her two children.

“I also know she fails drug tests there as she laughs at the result and says “parole are f-wits”.

“When she was in court (Southport) on August 6, I attended the public gallery to see if a parole officer would be in attendance and revoke her parole. Not only did they not even attend, a member of the public (later identified as one of her co accused) offered a residential address for (his daughter), as a place for her to reside should she get bail.”

The father said his daughter and other offenders were not being held to account.

“How, and what, is that teaching her about consequences?” he said in the letter.

“My grave concern is that she will again secure bail and her offences will continue or worse, a family will be killed after a stolen vehicle driven by a known offender high on ice strikes their car at breakneck speeds.

“Then, the media will rightly ask: why didn’t someone do something about this?”

The father told The Courier-Mail her daughter’s parole was finally revoked on Tuesday before she could again seek bail.

“It’s madness that it had to come to this, where a father has to beg for his daughter to be kept locked up,” he said.

“The justice system is a revolving door. It’s broken and it’s doing nothing to help the community.”

Queensland Corrective Services said it could not comment on individual cases, but anybody with knowledge of criminal behaviour should report it immediately to police.

“Compliance with drug testing is monitored and there are consequences for noncompliance,” a spokeswoman said.

“Community safety is paramount and parolees who don’t adhere to reporting conditions are frequently returned to prison.”

Originally published as Meth addict’s dad pleads: ‘Lock up my daughter or people will die’