A teenager already in youth custody over the murders of two children in Melbourne’s west was forcibly arrested by police after he repeatedly refused to attend court.
Fifteen-year-old Dau Akueng and 12-year-old Chol Achiek were killed when set upon by a group after they exited a bus in Cobblebank last month.
Eight people — five youths and three adults — have each been charged with one count of murder after the deaths, described by police as “one of the worst” knife crimes they had ever seen.
Two of the teenagers were required to attend a children’s court on Wednesday so an order could be made to obtain a DNA swab from them, after they refused to attend last week.
While the 15-year-old accused complied and attended, the 16-year-old did not.
The court heard the teen told youth justice staff on Wednesday morning he was sick, though a later medical assessment conducted after the prison van left the facility found he was not.
The 16-year-old also told staff he did not want to go to court because he did not want to wait around after his matter was heard, and did not want to make things “easier for police.”
The court heard it was the third time the teen had refused an order to attend.
The operations manager of the youth justice centre said its policy did not allow staff to use force to make a young person come to court.
“We encourage … we try to understand their concerns and speak about what could be the potential outcomes of them not attending,” she told the court.
When the magistrate asked whether the policy not to use force was actually based on legislation or was in fact usurping legislation, the operations manager said she could not answer.
The magistrate said it had been an ongoing issue with Youth Justice not bringing accused persons to court when there was an order, even though it was implied in the legislation that they should.
ABC
The community is tired and fed up with this scum.
Lock them up or deport him and his parents.
Hi Brad, since the state in debit why should tax payer foots this rotten feral loding in 5 star hotel called Jail, it save $$$ to deport him and his enabling family back to the 3rd World dump they came from!!!
This goes for other 3r world nation gimmigrant that recently got their PR visa and citizenship from the hoplessy comprimised Tony Burke who is lousy gate keeper unlike the hated POTUS from USA who reject illegal migrants pronto!