Court orders ‘no kids’

CONVICTED Apex Gang abetter Susan Merrall has been ordered not to have unsupervised children at her home, at a hearing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 5 December.
Merrall, 51, of Dandenong North, assured the court she was living at home alone but was handed the additional bail condition after turning up to court more than an hour late.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen told her: “I don’t want to see one child at that address at all”.
“It’s been really stressful for me with this media thing,” Merrall told the court.
“ACA (A Current Affair) – that’s been very hard for me too.
“It’s been very hard for my family as well.”
Mr Vandersteen told Merrall that she’d brought it onto herself.
Minutes after the hearing, Merrall stopped and gave a doorstop interview to TV reporters outside the courthouse.
The court was told Merrall was facing a possible breach of her 18-month community corrections order.
Merrall had been sentenced on the order for reportedly harbouring goods stolen by so-called Apex Gang youth during a spate of home invasions in February.
The court heard that she had breached the order by missing appointments with Department of Corrections, and being charged with shoplifting and driving offences.
Her recent charges include stealing from The Reject Shop at Officer on 28 October and committing the theft while on bail.
The alleged stolen goods were a black shopping bag, a red box-cutter knife, a network cable, an LED headlamp, laundry powder, three paint brushes, air fresheners, two torches, garbage bags and a universal TV remote.
Merrall was also accused with driving while suspended, driving an unregistered car and displaying false number plates in Doveton on 20 September – also while on the community corrections order.
Merrall was bailed to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 22 December.