Two police officers on the far North Coast have faced court after leaving an eight year old aboriginal boy locked in the back of the police wagon in the car park of the police station.
The incident
Senior Constables Michael Writer and Brian Quinn picked up two eight year old boys in Coraki, south of Lismore on the Northern Rivers, after a complaint of malicious damage.
The officers dropped one of the boys at a relative’s home. Upon returning to the station, they told colleagues that the other boy had been dropped at the home of a family friend.
But when the boy’s mother arrived at the station about an hour later, she told the officer on duty that her son was not with that friend.
Sergeant Dean Childs told the court he then called Senior Constable Writer, who was attending another job in nearby Evans Head.
Officer Childs testified that officer Writer initially repeated his assertion that the boy had been dropped off, then said, “F**k Sarge, you better check the truck”.
Sergeant Childs then found the boy locked in the back of the police wagon.
The boy was “hot and sweaty” when he was let out of the wagon. Ambulance officers were called to examine him, finding he had suffered no ill-effects. The boy was then allowed to return home.
The law
Section 231 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 prescribes a maximum penalty of $22,000 for anyone who “leaves any child or young person in the person’s care in a motor vehicle without proper supervision for such period or in such circumstances that:
(a) the child or young person becomes or is likely to become emotionally distressed, or
(b) the child’s or young person’s health becomes or is likely to become permanently or temporarily impaired”.
Officers Writer and Quinn were ultimately charged under section 231, as well as with neglect of duty, and the matter proceeded to a defended hearing in Lismore Local Court.
At the hearing, the boy’s mother testified that she became hysterical upon seeing her child and demanded the officers be charged in the same way others are punished for leaving children in vehicles.
“You read about people leaving kids in cars and they get fined,” she stated.
Local youth worker Luke Hayward, who had accompanied the boy’s mother to the police station, told the court they both became emotional as they saw the boy helped from the police wagon hot and sweaty.
Mr Hayward called the treatment of the boy “unacceptable”, pointing out that police are supposed to be building relationships with Aboriginal communities, and incidents like these don’t help.
The boy, who is now nine, testified that he felt angry about being left in the wagon, and that he was hungry and thirsty.
Acting Inspector Doug Connors told the court that while the situation was not ideal, it is not uncommon for children to spend an hour or more in the back of a police wagon.
The two accused officers did not testify, and the matter has been adjourned until September 13, when it is likely a judgment will be delivered.
Unlawfully arrested.. without my rights read.. falsely accussed … robbed of a family home by police lies