Eleven people have been charged, including six minors, after a 17-year-old was found by joggers in bushland at Pallarenda, Townsville, on July 18. The teenager, who has an intellectual disability, was allegedly tortured, zip tied, wrapped in plastic and dumped in the bush. The mother of the boy has had her bid for bail rejected in Townsville Magistrate's Court, and her case was adjourned to September.
Who Got Crushed
The court heard the boy has undergone two surgeries for injuries that include a broken nose, two lacerations to the scalp, a spinal fracture, a tibia fracture and substantial bruising. That’s the human cost sitting underneath the legal language and the tidy court file. A teenager was beaten, restrained, moved in a car boot and left in bushland. The state can count the charges. It can’t erase the damage.
Police prosecutor Lescha Lawson told the court on August 11 that the mother allegedly watched while her son was beaten and that she allegedly "laughed" as she watched him being tortured. Ms Lawson said the alleged assault started after the mother of the boy made "false allegations against the child" that he was a paedophile. She said the mother allegedly "actively participated in the assault and encouraged" others. According to Ms Lawson, the mother allegedly watched on while her son was bashed with metal rods, "joking" about the assault, "tormenting" him and saying, "he deserved it". Ms Lawson also said the teenager allegedly told police: "His mother laughed as she watched him be beaten by a number of people with metal bars."
What the Court Heard
The court earlier heard that the teenager was allegedly assaulted at a residence, and when he crawled away to escape, the alleged assault continued in the street with a horse whip and metal rods. One of the co-accused allegedly made a phone call which led to more people arriving at the scene before the teenager was wrapped in plastic, zip tied and transported in the boot of a car and dumped in bushland, the proceedings previously heard. The machinery of harm didn’t stop at one house. It spread. More people arrived. The violence became collective, organized, and then hidden in the boot of a car.
Magistrate Steven Mosch said the alleged offending was "incomprehensible". "It is reprehensible that the biological mother of the defendant was said to be present — if not actively engaged and encouraging others to do so," he said. He also read from documents tendered by the police which alleged methamphetamine had been smoked at the residence before the alleged assault. The mother was refused bail and her case was adjourned to September.
Defence lawyer Mikaila Ward told the court there was a "lack of particularisation" about which of the alleged offenders were involved and to what degree. She said there was "no forensic evidence linking my client to the offence". Ms Ward said the boy's mother said she asked her son to leave and watched him walk out the door before she headed to bed. She also said the co-accused all provided different versions of events to police and flagged potential issues with finding separate legal representation for all the co-accused. "There are 11 charged so, finding representation could be an ongoing issue," she said.
Who Gets to Speak for Order
Meanwhile, when another co-accused applied for bail in Townsville Magistrates Court on August 11, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service lawyer Matt Morton said his client "strongly" contested the allegations, and allegedly "put herself in the firing line to protect the child". Ms Lawson argued the woman did not call police at the time of the alleged offending and had been identified by the 17-year-old as an alleged perpetrator. The court heard the woman was not at the initial social gathering at the house but allegedly arrived at the house after an alleged phone call from another co-accused.
Ms Lawson said the woman allegedly sent text messages to another co-accused saying: "I'm coming now, sorry. I was a little scared. I'm sorry. I thought jail time for me lol". The woman allegedly texted another person later in the night saying she was "just dealing with this sick f**k". Ms Lawson said those text messages suggested the woman was "more than a mere bystander". Magistrate Mosch said the texts suggested "some proactive involvement". He rejected that woman's bail application. Her case was also adjourned to September.
The court process keeps moving. The injuries stay. The charges stay. And the people at the bottom of this wreckage are left to carry the weight while the legal system sorts out who gets locked up first.