The Cook Labor Government has again shown it will not fight to keep violent offenders in jail or to protect women from dangerous domestic violence offenders.
Commenting on the release of an Albany man from prison despite breaching a family violence restraining order Shadow Justice Minister Tjorn Sibma said today it was getting difficult to keep up with the number of dangerous offenders currently being released into the community.
Joel Derek Coyne, 33, was released from Albany Prison last Friday despite pleading guilty to flinging his partner around by her hair and swinging a star picket at her.
Coyne’s release was conditional on him undergoing drug and psychological counselling, urine analyses and community work but there was no requirement for GPS tracking.
“I’d like to hear from Attorney General John Quigley why his Government isn’t requesting this offender be tracked 24 hours a day,” Mr Sibma said.
“Surely he had demonstrated he has no respect for the restraining order currently in place.
“This is exactly the type of scenario that would be the target of the expanded GPS monitoring policy that the Liberal Party will take to the 2025 state election.”
It has also emerged that the Cook Labor Government will not oppose the release from jail of a Perth man who raped a woman during a home invasion and has a 200-offence juvenile record that included killing a pregnant mother and her baby in a high-speed crash, when he comes before the courts in coming weeks.
Considered one of the State’s most dangerous criminals, the man, who has escaped jail twice, has been behind bars for 23 years after being sentenced indefinitely under the High Risk Serious Offenders Act 2020 (WA).
“Again, the people of Western Australia deserve to hear from the Attorney General himself why he believes this man should be released from prison,” Mr Sibma said.
“It’s becoming clear that the Attorney General doesn’t seem to want to take responsibility for, or be associated with, the policies of his office and his Government that are resulting in dangerous criminals being released onto the streets on an almost daily basis.”