Legal Aid WA hire extra duty lawyer after Aboriginal grandma with dementia spend days in prison

Legal Aid WA will hire an extra duty lawyer after a shocking case in which an Aboriginal grandma with dementia was given no legal representation and spent six days in jail for squirting her neighbour with a garden hose. Perth’s metropolitan courts currently do not have duty lawyers available on days where the court lists are dedicated to civil matters, traffic matters or trials. However, courts can still end up dealing with overnight arrests on these days. Last year, The West Australian exposed how an 86-year-old grandmother was denied bail and remanded for eight days at Melaleuca prison after she breached a “misconduct restraining order” by spraying her neighbour with water from a hose and swearing at her. The grandmother has been in a dispute with the neighbour over a fence but had no criminal history except for a minor stealing charge from 1984. No duty lawyer was present on the day of her first appearance, and despite the grandma telling the magistrate she wanted to talk to a lawyer, she ended up representing herself. When asked if she understood the charges she repeatedly said: “No.” The grandmother was freed after six days in custody when Legal Aid applied for a second bail hearing in the WA Supreme Court. She was later found unfit to plead because of neurodegenerative Alzheimer’s disease and was released without a conviction recorded. At the time, Attorney-General John Quigley said he was “deeply concerned” the grandmother had been incarcerated for a week and questioned whether a white woman from a wealthy suburb would have been given the same treatment. WA Legal Aid had now secured funding from the Department of Justice for an additional duty lawyer for a 12-month pilot to work centrally across all courts to assist on days when duty lawyers are not present. The lawyer will provide legal representation either via phone or video link. It is hoped it will be operational by next month. Legal Aid WA criminal law division director Maureen Kavanagh said they had started investigating the remote lawyer plan after the grandmother’s case. She said it would help ensure people in custody did not fall through the cracks.

Legal Aid WA hire extra duty lawyer after Aboriginal grandma with dementia spend days in prison

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