The delays that are letting crims off the hook themorningbulletin.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from themorningbulletin.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The state MP whose electorate Sian Kingi's parents live in has joined the chorus of opposition to the schoolgirl’s rapist and murderer being bailed.
The killer who abducted, raped and murdered a 12-year-old girl in a sickening crime that shocked Australia nearly 35 years ago has made a plea for freedom.
Barrie Watts brutally killed young school girl Sian Kingi on the Sunshine Coast on November 27, 1987 with the help of his then-wife and mother-of-six Valmae Beck.
The pair lured 12-year-old Sian to help look for a white poodle with a pink bow before Watts abducted her into the backseat of a Holden Kingswood station wagon.
After gagging Sian and driving her to a remote forest, Watts performed a fantasy he shared with Beck by repeatedly sexually assaulting Sian before strangling and stabbing her.
A frustrated magistrate has blown the whistle on laws that force courts to turn a blind eye to the extensive criminal histories of serial juvenile offenders once they turn 18. Magistrate Stuart Shearer made the comments when sentencing an 18-year-old - who was this week convicted on a string of offences including burglary - but complained that he was forced to pretend the man had no prior convictions when in fact he had 15 juvenile probation orders. Mr Shearer blasted the barrister and police prosecutor who had asked for what he considered to be a lenient sentence of just 12 months imprisonment. Magistrate Stuart Shearer.
'Window dressing': MP's fears for latest youth crime blitz sunshinecoastdaily.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunshinecoastdaily.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.