WA: No prison for teen branded a danger to the community

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2008
WA: No prison for teen branded a danger to the community

By Nicolas Perpitch

PERTH, April 7 AAP - A judge has released a teenager convicted over a fatal assault,
despite declaring him a danger to the community.

West Australian judge Justice Phillip McCann told the District Court in Perth the 19-year-old
was more likely to be rehabilitated outside jail.

He placed the teenager on a 12-month pre-sentence order with strict bail conditions.

A pre-sentence order can be imposed when a court is considering imprisonment, but releases
the offender until sentencing at a later date.

Simon Barr, the father of Arran Barr, who died after being punched in the head at Perth's
Whitfords train station in March 2006, said the youth should have to pay for his crime
before being rehabilitated.

A jury last month acquitted the Perth man of Mr Barr's manslaughter, even though he
admitted he had punched Arran following an argument.

Arran Barr died 11 weeks later in hospital from a torn left vertebral artery.

The teenager, who cannot be named because he was a juvenile at the time of the assault,
was also found not guilty of grievous bodily harm, but admitted to assault occasioning
bodily harm.

At the time of the offence, the teenager was on a community release order for other
"brutal" assaults and had committed a string of previous offences.

"You are a real danger to the community," Justice McCann told him.

He said the teenager did not deserve leniency, but opted not to order a prison term.

He said a pre-sentence order would be of more benefit, because if sent to jail the
teenager would likely serve only a few weeks or months without receiving any help to rehabilitate
himself.

The teenager was bailed on the condition that he report weekly to police, not enter
licensed premises and undergo psychological counselling and anger management programs.

"It's more important from the community point of view that something be done before
it's too late," Justice McCann said.

But the teenager was warned the most minor breach would see him jailed immediately.

Outside the court, Simon Barr said the decision exposed a flaw in the legal system.

"We've got a system in crisis. We've got a young man there who is a danger to the public
and has admitted as much, yet he's out walking the streets," Mr Barr said.

"The justice system ... has to provide justice first and rehabilitation afterwards."

The teenager is due back in court in 12 months for sentencing.

The WA government has proposed introducing a new offence of unlawful assault causing
death, in response to several not guilty verdicts for manslaughter over so-called one-punch
deaths.

AAP np/jl/sp

KEYWORD: BARR

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