Gap to close in SA's prison placement rules after plea from murder victim's family
Michael's father Jeffrey Purse previously told the media of his devastation at learning that Edwin James Hinrichsen, who was convicted of his son's manslaughter in 2023, had been moved from Yatala Labour Prison to Cadell Training Centre in the state's Riverland.
Hinrichsen was sentenced beside David Graham Young — both of whom pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were subsequently ordered to serve more than 11 years behind bars.
A third man, Mark-Bry Andrew Leedham, was found guilty of murdering the 32-year-old and sentenced earlier this year to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 28 years — including four years remaining on an earlier jail term.
Michael was killed in February 2019 at a unit in Kilburn, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, after he went missing from the Adelaide CBD.
His remains have never been found.
Mr Purse told the ABC on Wednesday he and his family were "quite stunned" when they learned that Hinrichsen was serving the remainder of his sentence at a low-security prison farm.
Upon hearing the news, which was around the same time Leedham was sentenced, Mr Purse spoke to the media, contacted authorities and wrote a letter to the Minister for Correctional Services Emily Bourke.
Hinrichsen was subsequently moved to a medium-security facility and a review into his placement is now underway.
"The results of that enquiry found that there are gaps in their guidelines and SOPs [Standard Operating Procedures], and therefore, there was no specific exclusions of persons like Hinrichsen to be not admitted into low-security facilities," Mr Purse said on Wednesday.
Minister Bourke said she was "grateful to Jeffrey for sharing his story… and advocating for improvements in our justice system".
"We listened to his feedback and brought Jeffrey and the department together, enabling an outcome where all recommendations put forward by the review process will be implemented," she said.
"Importantly, this includes giving a stronger victim perspective in the case management of serious offenders.
"Community safety is paramount and outcomes of this review will strengthen processes in place, with greater oversight on placement decisions made."
Mr Purse said he and his family were "very pleased with the result" and compared it to "a bit of a David versus Goliath battle".
A spokesperson from the Department for Correctional Services said it took "concerns of victims very seriously" and review panel "put forward recommendations which will be implemented".
"These changes will help ensure the department has a stronger victim focus relating to the case management of serious offenders," it said.
"Offenders in this category will have a higher degree of oversight prior to any transfer decision made."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Annabel Digance files lawsuit against SA premier, claiming she was a victim of prosecution
Former South Australian MP Annabel Digance has launched a $2.3 million lawsuit against Premier Peter Malinauskas, claiming that he led a "malicious prosecution" in an attempt to damage her reputation. Documents filed in the Supreme Court by Ms Digance, against Mr Malinauskas and the State of South Australia, claim the former MP was a victim of a prosecution "motivated by [the premier's] own personal and political advantage". Ms Digance and her husband, Greg Digance, were previously facing blackmail charges in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after allegedly threatening to make allegations of misconduct against Mr Malinauskas in 2020 — when he was leader of the opposition. Those charges were dropped in April 2023. The court documents, filed by Sydney-based law firm Carroll & O'Dea Solicitors on behalf of Ms Digance, claim she was "maliciously prosecuted" by Mr Malinauskas, SA Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions. "The Applicant also alleges trespass to person and property, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment by the SA Police," the document reads. The document goes on to claim that Mr Malinauskas was "motivated to maximise his own and SA Labor's prospects of success at the 2022 state election" and that he, or a member of the SA Police, had provided information to the media in an attempt to "maximise the public humiliation of Mrs Digance". In a statement to ABC News, the premier said he was not surprised by the lawsuit. "It is not surprising the Digances have chosen to take this course of action, considering their previous behaviour," he said. "All I have ever wanted is for the Digances to leave me alone. "The Digances won't distract me from delivering for the people of South Australia." The case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Closing arguments heard in Janelle Fletcher child abuse trial
The final arguments in the trial of a music teacher accused of sexually abusing a teen girl have circled around a movie night kiss captured in a photo booth and a series of emotionally charged emails. Janelle Colville Fletcher, 40, is contesting allegations that she groomed and sexually abused the underage girl some years ago and appeared again on Monday at the South Australian District Court before Judge Joanne Fuller. The prosecution, led by Chris Allen, allege Ms Fletcher abused the girl in various locations and also that she communicated with her and another teenage girl to make them amenable to sexual activity. Some of the alleged offending happened when the two girls and Ms Fletcher were alone together in a room, the prosecution said, with the teacher allegedly performing a lap dance on a chair. She then allegedly 'dared' the two girls to kiss each other and asked if they would 'date' each other. That same night, Mr Allen said, Ms Fletcher then spent time alone with one of the girls and touched her genital area. The alleged grooming and abuse of the girl then went on for months at various locations, the prosecution said, including the home of Ms Fletcher and in Ms Fletcher's car. Janelle Fletcher is contesting the allegation that she sexually abused a teen girl. Picture: NewsWire Alongside oral evidence from the alleged victims, the prosecution presented a series of texts, emails and photographs to support its case, including a photo of Ms Fletcher and the girl kissing at a cinema photo booth. In his closing address, Mr Allen said the 'objective evidence' of the photo booth kiss showed an 'unlawful sexual act'. He argued further that the 'sheer volume' of photos of Ms Fletcher and the girl together suggested a sexual relationship. 'They look like girlfriends (in the photographs) … in a relationship between girlfriends,' Mr Allen said. In her testimony from last week, Ms Fletcher said the photo booth kiss was a 'pretend kiss' she did not want or mean to happen. 'It was meant to be a pretend kiss like we had done previously where our lips don't actually touch, and in that particular photo we got close and she did sort of pull me in and the photo went off, yeah,' Ms Fletcher said. There is dispute between the defence and prosecution about the correct sequence order of photos from the booth. The prosecution says the correct sequence runs from top to bottom in the order of one, two, three and then four. In 'photo 4', Ms Fletcher appears happy and the prosecution argues this shows she was happy to kiss the girl and not shocked or upset by it. Ms Fletcher and her defence team, led by Andrew Culshaw, claim that photo was taken before the kiss and should not be seen as approval of the act, with the correct sequence of photos running one, two, four and then three. Mr Culshaw also argued the photo did not show child sexual abuse because the girl had turned 17 at the time of the photo, and so she was therefore not a child when the kiss happened. Further, Ms Fletcher was also no longer in a position of authority at the time of the kiss, the defence said. 'What Your Honour has, in my submission, is evidence of a kiss at a time when it was legal,' Mr Culshaw said. The prosecution argued that a series of emotionally expressive emails from Ms Fletcher to the girl revealed the 'true nature' of the relationship between them. In one email, Ms Fletcher told the girl 'I want something serious not something short term'. In others, she said 'my feelings for you are not lust but love' and 'right now, we can't be open. Right now we will have to continue as we are in secret …' Ms Fletcher holds a PhD in music education. Picture: NewsWire Ms Fletcher had earlier argued the emails showed non-sexual 'love' for the girl, but Mr Allen dismissed that argument on Monday as 'absurd'. 'This is not 'I love you' in some sort of Catholic way,' Mr Allen said. Mr Culshaw, in his closing address, acknowledged under questioning from Judge Fuller that the emails appeared 'terrible' on a first or literal reading in that they seemed to suggest the pair had been in a sexual relationship. But he argued a deeper reading of the emails fit with Ms Fletcher's testimony. She claimed last week that they were written to keep the girl happy and guide her away to a more age-appropriate relationship. 'These emails are consistent with a relatively young teacher, in her early 30s, who had got herself in too deep … and so was trying to deal with the situation and extricate herself from it,' Mr Culshaw said. Mr Culshaw said the only part of the emails that might be read as 'overtly' sexual was the line on 'lust', but he argued her denial of lust reaffirmed her evidence. 'Denial can't be then tortured into an admission,' he said. Further, he stressed Ms Fletcher was not being 'charged' with the content of the emails. In his afternoon address, Mr Culshaw invited Judge Fuller to look with scepticism on the credibility of the oral evidence presented at trial, drilling into what he called 'catastrophic inconsistencies' in the claims against Ms Fletcher. In one instance, he cast doubt on witness testimony to the 'truth or dare' game. The two girls spoke together about the alleged event after it had happened, he claimed, and there was a risk their evidence had been 'contaminated'. 'There is a risk here that these two witnesses have contaminated one another ... and the recollection, to the extent that it was consistent between the two of them, there is a risk that what Your Honour is getting is a single collective version of history rather than two separate and independent versions of history. 'They have both given evidence that there was a game of truth or dare, but neither of them could really say what the truths were, what the dares were, beyond the big headline matters.' Ms Fletcher holds a PhD in music education. She told the court that she was heterosexual and believed in the Catholic faith. She was still legally married to a man, though the pair had separated, she told the court. Judge Fuller will deliver her verdict on August 20. Duncan Evans Reporter Duncan Evans is a reporter for News Corp's NewsWire service, based in Adelaide. Before NewsWire, he worked as a resources and politics reporter for The Daily Mercury in Mackay, Queensland and as a reporter at CQ Today, an independent newspaper based in Rockhampton. He was raised in Emerald and Brisbane and studied English Literature and American Studies at the University of Sydney. He began his career in journalism working for the Jakarta Post in Indonesia for over two years as an editor, translator and writer. He is fluent in Indonesian. @Duncanevans01 Duncan Evans
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
NT to reinstate use of spit hoods in youth detention, eight years after royal commission sparked ban
The Northern Territory government has flagged it will reinstate the use of spit hoods on young people in youth detention centres, almost eight years after the practice was banned. The proposal is one of several changes to the Youth Justice Act 2005 and Youth Justice Regulations 2006 expected to be introduced and debated in NT parliament this week by the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government. In a statement on Monday, the government said the proposed changes would also include: The CLP pledged during last year's NT election to reintroduce the use of spit hoods on youths if elected to government. On Monday, NT Deputy Chief Minister and Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said the legislative changes would be introduced to parliament as a matter of "urgency", following the stabbing at the weekend of a 15-year-old boy at the Royal Darwin Show. Mr Maley said the "community have had enough" when it came to youth crime in the territory. "This is another piece of legislation we're going to do to make sure Territorians can go to work, go to the show and live in the Northern Territory safely," he said. NT Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley said the proposed amendments were about ensuring "safety and security" for staff and young people in youth detention centres. "These amendments this week are about making sure our staff have the tools, the powers and the procedures to make sure that environment is safe and secure,' he said. "We're wanting to see a change to the past where our officers have been exposed to risk, our officers have been exposed to assault and harm, and our youth detention centres have been damaged and destroyed. Controversy over the NT's use of spit hoods received significant media attention in 2016 following an ABC Four Corners report into the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, which led to then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing a royal commission into juvenile justice and child protection in the territory. In 2017, following the federal government's formal endorsement of a United Nations protocol against torture and inhumane punishments, the NT government stopped the use of spit hoods and restraint chairs in youth detention centres. However, it was not until 2022 that the use of spit hoods for youth in police custody was also banned by the then-Labor government, though the ban was never formalised in legislation. In a statement on Monday, an NT Police Force (NTPF) spokesperson confirmed that since October 2024, spit hoods had once again been made available to use on youths in police watch houses and cells. "The NTPF have strict policies in place for their use", the spokesperson said. NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk said the proposed amendments to the Youth Justice Act reflected a "failure" by the government "to meet with key stakeholders, including legal and social service experts". "It goes against all the evidence of what actually works to try to reduce challenging behaviours, particularly in a custodial setting," she said. "We're the only jurisdiction that is now going back to using spit hoods on children. Ms Musk said she was also concerned about the planned change to ensure detention was no longer a last resort. "[It] is against international law, it's against child rights. It can lead to unjust dispositions by the court, that is not able to then balance the needs of that child against other considerations," she said. Opposition Leader Selena Uibo labelled the government's decision a "reactive, knee-jerk response" that would not have a "holistic impact when it comes to improving community safety". "Everything that these millions and millions of dollars of royal commissions or reports have shown not to do, the CLP is doing," she said. In a statement, the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls also condemned the proposed amendments and called for "the urgent withdrawal of this legislation". "These proposed changes represent a punitive attack on the rights, dignity, and lives of children in the Northern Territory," said Debbie Kilroy OAM, chief executive of Sisters Inside. Ms Kilroy labelled the re-introduction of spit hoods as a "grotesque failure of leadership", and cited the interstate cases of Wayne Fella Morrison and Selesa Taifaifa — who both died following incidents involving the use of spit hoods — as examples of their "deadly consequences". "Let us be clear: spit hoods are instruments of torture. They are used to degrade, control and silence," Ms Kilroy said. Ms Kilroy also criticised the planned removal of the principle of detention as a last resort. "Many of the children who appear before the courts are themselves victims — victims of violence, poverty, neglect, racism and state failure," she said. "They are not born 'offenders', they are criminalised by a system that was never designed to protect them." The proposed amendments will be introduced to the NT parliament on Tuesday.
