Australia: Aged sex offender freed to ‘unsafe’ living

Source: portpirierecorder.com.au 11/16/22

A judge has criticised corrective services for leaving an elderly sex offender to choose between indefinite detention or housing without health support.

The Supreme Court of Queensland on Wednesday heard an application by the Attorney-General to have Desmond Ronald Grant, 78, released on a supervision order.

Grant has completed a five-year prison sentence for sex offences and is now physically frail and has several health conditions, including diabetes, and needs a walker to enable his limited mobility.

Justice Peter Applegarth said in his judgment it was “entirely understandable” that Grant had sought hostel-style accommodation with home care support rather than stay in prison.

The only suitable accommodation currently available for Grant was a temporary living precinct on prison grounds at Townsville designed for people due to leave custody but who are still looking for a home.

“In making those choices, (Grant’s) health may be compromised, he may suffer a serious medical episode in unsupported accommodation at a precinct,” Justice Applegarth said.

Read the full article

 

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Submissions must be in English
  2. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  3. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  4. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  5. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Always use person-first language.
  6. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  7. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  8. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  9. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  10. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  11. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  12. Please do not post in all Caps.
  13. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  14. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  15. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  16. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  17. Please do not solicit funds
  18. No discussions about weapons
  19. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  20. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  21. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  22. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  23. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

21 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Once again, mixed feelings. This man is obviously in frail health. He needs a walker to assist with his, “Limited mobility”. How dangerous could this man possibly be? How dangerous.could it be to have him in an assisted living facility? The story indicates that his offense was directed towards a teenaged boy(s), so he’s going to what, club a 14 year old with his walker..and hope he doesn’t fall over in the process?

I am however glad to hear the words of the judge presiding over this case. This judge, unlike so many American judges, is not willing to just throw this man’s life away like garbage. Allow the State to force this man to chose between prison and a possible death sentence in housing that cannot provide the medical assistant he needs. I wonder how many American PFRs have been forced into choices like this? Forced to chose between two horrible, inhumane and potentially deadly options. How many have died as a result of this…and how many more will before this abomination dies?

I am also saddened by once again finding that the SO hysteria and the inhumane cruelty it promotes, is not limited to just the US. I know very little about Australian culture, and even less about their justice system, but this story left me with…mixed feelings.

hey thats the land down under we are talking about who has been taken over by chinese interests at least at the university level kinda like this country!

I am assuming that the dynamics involved in this Australian episode is the same as in the U.S., and that is, insurance company lawyers set the policies for rest homes, hospitals, etc. in respect to SO’s. The lawyers are ONLY concerned with liability issues, and citizens such as we are viewed by these lawyers as unacceptable “high risks” for these establishments. Without any individualized assessment, we are effectively prohibited from accessing necessary services, or even be present “to visit” relatives and loved ones. AND if the facility does not adhere to the insurance companies’ imposed policies, their premiums go up exponentially. I wish we could somehow educate these lawyers who seemingly don’t give a damn about any of us.

This kind of story makes is why I worry what will happen when I reach the point where I require assisted living. Not much available for anyone on the registry for sure, and I won’t be able to afford home health care. If my spouse goes ill or dies before me I’ll be stuck.

A judge who actually has compassion for an elderly “sex offender” released from prison? That wouldn’t happen in America. The article doesn’t say what he did exactly, but a five year sentence is a drop in the bucket compared to sex crime sentencing in America—-including no contact offenses like just looking at a picture of a minor. That could easily run a person in the 5 to 10 year range. Well, at least there’s some love down under. Whatever a person did, they still have human rights