By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 15-year-old boy charged with possessing cannabis has had to pass the same strict bail law test applied to accused murderers.
In what a children’s court judge termed as an “anomaly”, the boy had to prove “exceptional circumstances” to be released on bail on 9 July.
Cannabis possession is punishable by a fine of up to $800 but was not a jailable offence.
It attracted the harshest of the State Government’s new bail laws because it is an indictable offence, and the boy had been on bail for an indictable offence at the time.
Police seized the boy’s hidden stash from his residential care bedroom early on 9 July, the court heard.
After the raid, the boy allegedly kicked two of the facility’s workers. No injuries were reported, the court was told.
He had been on bail for theft of a motor vehicle and reckless conduct endangering life due to allegedly pulling the handbrake whilst driving the stolen car.
A police informant listed 11 outstanding charges that the boy faced at the children’s court.
“Where’s it going to stop?”
A Youth Justice worker said the boy had been “extremely distressed” while remanded in police cells that day.
“He’s really worried. He’s got to the point of giving up.
“(He says) what’s the point of doing the good things when I keep ending up back in (cells).”
The judge stated there were “exceptional circumstances” – taking into account his intellectual disability, autism, age and his personal circumstances that led him to living in residential care.
The boy had been complying with Youth Justice supervision orders and attending school, the judge said.
“There’s a tipping point in terms of how you deal with people.”
The boy was bailed with a night curfew to appear at a childrens’ court at a later date.
