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WAtoday and 9News Perth cannot name the perpetrator for legal reasons – however he is facing multiple sexual assault, assault – including strangulation – and deprivation of liberty charges.
He previously spent years behind bars for domestic violence offences.
“I felt reasonably safe until August, until I heard that he was getting out on bail,” North said.
“Then I went into survival mode.”
Last year, the state government implemented electronic monitoring laws for family and domestic violence offenders to track perpetrators in cases like North’s.
The Commissioner of Corrective Services wrote to the WA Police Commissioner earlier this year, warning GPS tracking of family and domestic violence offenders in regional WA could no longer be supported because of “unacceptable risks” with response times.
A magistrate in Western Australia, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, told this masthead the legislation is not workable when GPS monitoring is not available in regional areas because “throwing someone in jail isn’t always an option”.
“We are bound to weigh up the perpetrator’s right to freedom. If they can’t wear an ankle monitor because they can’t be tracked, we can’t just throw them in jail as a fallback,” the magistrate said.
On Friday, Minister for Corrective Services Paul Papalia took aim at the courts, making it clear he expected the courts to uphold the legislation he was defending.
“It’s shocking, I’ve seen the report to which you’re referring,” Papalia said in response to media questions on 9 News Perth’s television story aired on Thursday.
WA Minister Paul Papalia.Credit: Jesinta Burton.
“I think most West Australians would assume that if an individual isn’t safe to be released to the community, they wouldn’t be.
“The first decision is to whether it is safe to release that person into the community and that’s a courts’ responsibility.
“The courts will determine in the first instance whether it’s safe or not to release an individual on bail. In the event they believe it is, they can apply a range of measures. One of which now is electronic monitoring.”
North said she still fears for her life, and said WA Police advised her to relocate to the other side of the country to stay safe.
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“The detectives have done an amazing job, gathering all the evidence, getting it all together, only for the courts to let them out,” she said.
“Their [police] best option [for me] is to relocate to the eastern states. They said it might even be best to change my name.”
Shadow minister for preventing family and domestic violence Libby Mettam slammed the state’s justice system, calling the case “shocking”.
Mettam has written to the three ministers responsible for family and domestic violence, but is yet to get a response.
“There is no justice here when the only option for this woman to feel safe is to move interstate. We’ve got a violent offender out on bail who, according to Kelly, is not being tracked,” Mettam said.
“This is evidence of a failed justice system. This makes a complete mockery of the Cook Labor Government’s promises in relation to monitoring regional WA.”
“I just want people to know the system is broken, it’s so, so broken and people are going to keep dying. People are going to die. It’s a given,” North said.
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