http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/qld-may-consider-tougher-bail-law...Queensland got it wrong AGAIN.ANTI-violence campaigners have called for an overhaul of Queensland’s bail laws after the tragic slaying of Gold Coast woman Theresa Bradford at the hands of her husband.
Ms Bradford, 40, was stabbed to death by her estranged husband David in front of her children at her home on the northern suburbs of the Gold Coast early on Tuesday.
The deadly incident came just two weeks after David Bradford was granted bail in a specialist domestic violence court on charges stemming from an assault on his wife last November.
Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence director Di McLeod said Queensland’s legal system isn’t providing adequate protection to victims of domestic violence.
“Clearly things need to change there,” Ms McLeod told reporters.
“There’s a presumption against the granting of bail where there’s a history or threat of domestic violence in most Australian jurisdictions. There’s not in Queensland.
“There’s no specific provisions in the bail act that cater specifically for domestic violence cases.”
Ms Bradford’s death is the fifth case of a woman allegedly being murdered by her partner on the Gold Coast in 16 months.
[highlight]Ms McLeod says history shows domestic violence offenders regularly breach court- imposed conditions and reoffend.[/highlight]
there are two moments in this story that either makes me want to scream or laugh out loud..His LAWYER said this... with a straight face.. Quote:Bradford’s lawyer Mark Donnelly told the Courier-Mail there were “no indications whatsoever that he would do what he did”.
“He had accepted the relationship had irretrievably broken down and was accepting of the very restrictive bail conditions that had been imposed, including having no contact with his partner,” Mr Donnelly, of Krosen and Co. Lawyers, said.
how could you get it so WRONG Mr Donnelly?...
next. Quote:Friends of Ms Bradford said she was living in terror after her husband was bailed just two weeks before the killing.
Mr Bradford, 52, was released on bail by a specialist domestic violence magistrate[/highlight], despite his estranged wife telling police he knocked her unconscious in a violent attack on November 28 last year.
Two weeks after the magistrate released the former train driver, despite the strong objections of police, he broke into his wife Teresa’s home and stabbed her to death before taking his own life.
The couple’s four children were home at the time and fled to neighbours for help.
Domestic violence workers say 40-year-old Teresa was let down by a system that should have protected her.
Friends of Mrs Bradford told the Gold Coast Bulletin she was “terrified” when her husband was released.
what is the point of a victim report or a police report
if even SPECIALIST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MAGISTRATES take absolutely no notice of them...
what does a victim of DV have to do to get a known violent person put away???>...
be dead I guess. not only are both parents dead but 4 children have one hell of a lot to live with for the rest of their days..
and I guess the magistrate can go home and sleep peacefully....
yes the magistrate could have listened to the Police....and who knows even put the victims wellbeing first for a change..
5 dead in 16 months.....how many other living in cold fear.. we will never know ..
unless they are killed then we find out..