Spotlight on Warwick Courthouse

Kim Hanson-Ross kimberley.hansonross@icloud.com

It was a slow Monday, on February 13 in Warwick Court, with multiple adjournments, drug and drink driving and driving without a licence charges.

However, one case proved to stand out from the crowd, when a young lady of 23 years walked in on public nuisance charges, and all was not what it seemed.

The mother of two had left the children with her father, but when she went to up the children, they were found to be under the supervision of the children’s aunt. The aunt refused to return the mother’s children, and the 23-year-old then asked the aunt to tell her ex-partner to drop off the children later.

The mother left to give a cool-down period, and returned later for the children, however the father gathered his friends and attacked her vehicle. The father is reported to have Domestic Violence charges against him.

The police were called to the scene, but the defendant was “very frustrated and angry” according to her representative lawyer, and yelled, “You sick f****** c***.” to her ex-partner.

When the police were unable to assist in the collection of her children, she shouted, “He killed my father, you are useless,” before spitting at them.

There was no order in place regarding the custody of the children and the Magistrate confirmed: “There is not a lot police can do when there’s no order in place. You would be well advised to get an order in place, so that you won’t have to keep up with organising arrangements anymore.”

Due to the circumstances of the incident, which is that she was trying to get her kids back, the woman wasn’t heavily punished. Instead, the judge gave her a lighter sentence, and put her on a good behaviour bond.

Another standout case involved a man who had broken bail on four Mondays in December.

On the first instance, the court was told he “went in to report, but the door was locked, and didn’t know what to do”. He “failed to see the large sign on the door saying to call if the office was unattended”.

On the second occasion, the bail avoider was attending a wedding but failed to inform the police he was going away. On the third and fourth occasion, there were measures in place to allow him to work around the public holidays of reporting days, but by this point, he “stopped bothering to go in” and didn’t think he “would get in trouble.”

The man in question was convicted, but not punished further, due to already being in custody at the time of the hearing.