Latest news with #Declan'sLaw
ABC News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
NT parliament urgently reconvenes to pass new bail laws after fatal Nightcliff stabbing
The Northern Territory parliament will reconvene for an urgent session today to introduce and pass new bail laws in response to the fatal stabbing of a Darwin supermarket owner. Linford Feick, 71, died at his Nightcliff grocery store last Wednesday after Phillip Randel Maurice Parry, who was on bail at the time, allegedly attacked him with an edged weapon. Police said Mr Feick had confronted Mr Parry about shoplifting before the 18-year-old allegedly stabbed him. Linford Feick was fatally stabbed while working in his Nightcliff store. ( ABC News: Laetitia Lemke ) Mr Parry Mr Feick's death has sent shockwaves through the Darwin community, sparking widespread sadness and anger. Phillip Randel Maurice Parry has been charged with murder. ( Supplied ) In response to the alleged murder, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro last week requested parliament be recalled so that "urgent" bail legislation could be introduced and passed, with a sitting day arranged for today. Ms Finocchiaro said she wanted the territory to have the "toughest bail laws in the country". "I think Territorians will agree that this is very urgent and important work that must be done," she said. Lia Finocchiaro asked for parliament to be recalled urgently in the wake of the incident. ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) Legislation to be based on Victorian, NSW laws Outlining the proposed changes last week, Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said an overarching legal principle would be established, requiring judges to be satisfied that an alleged offender would not pose a risk to the community if granted bail. "That overarching principle must be addressed and considered before any other type of presumption for or against bail is considered," she said. Ms Boothby said the changes would be based on laws in Victoria and New South Wales. Marie-Clare Boothby says the bail changes will make the community safer. ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) The Country Liberal Party (CLP) took power in the NT in August last year following an election campaign centred on tough-on-crime measures. Key to its platform was "Declan's Law" — The laws were named after Declan Laverty, a 20-year-old bottle shop worker who was fatally stabbed at work by a man on bail in 2023. Declan's Law expanded the presumption against bail for various violent offences and reintroduced breach of bail as an offence for children aged 10 to 17, with the aim of keeping more alleged offenders on remand. Declan's Law is named after Declan Laverty, who was killed while working at a bottle shop. ( Supplied ) Ms Finocchiaro said Declan's Law was "working", but the new legislation would "strengthen" it. "What we are really trying to do is make sure our laws meet that community expectation," she said. " Whilst judges do require a level of discretion ... we're confident it could really set a strong benchmark for community safety. " Since the CLP was elected, the territory's prison population Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley acknowledged the proposed bail changes would put further pressure on the NT's strained corrections system, but said the government was prepared to create another 5,000 prison beds if necessary.
The Australian
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Australian
Linford Feick Nightcliff death: could a horrific tragedy have been avoided?
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro should have seen this coming. The warnings were there, signposted by every frustrated Territorian who has been a victim of crime in the days since the Country Liberal Party came into power. The two-month-old baby who was flown to Adelaide hospital after being hit in the head with a fridge handle in December. The 71-year-old Darwin man found lying in a pool of his own blood after two teenagers hacked him with a machete. The Alice Springs healthcare worker who woke in the middle of the night to a stranger raping her. How did it take the alleged murder on Wednesday evening of an elderly supermarket owner by a teenager on bail for serious charges, including alleged rape, for Finocchiaro to recall parliament and introduce the 'toughest bail laws' in the nation? The Chief Minister's declaration on Thursday that 'nothing is off the table' meant very little to exasperated residents. 'What does that even mean?' one person said. The Finocchiaro government strengthened bail laws when it first came to power. But it had no choice. Tensions were rising across the region, and Finocchiaro had run a 'tough on crime' campaign. Territorians have been here before. Just over two years ago, bottleshop worker Declan Laverty was murdered while working in Darwin's northern suburbs. His killer, 19-year-old Keith Kerinauia, was sentenced last year to life in jail with a non-parole period of 20 years. This masthead at the time revealed after the murder that Kerinauia had been released on bail for aggravated robbery and aggravated assault just over a month before Laverty's death. The CLP, in a bid to win the election last year, rolled out Samara Laverty and promised to crack down on violent attacks. Declan's Law was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the CLP after it took over in government from NT Labor in August last year, legislating a presumption against bail for youth and adult serious violent offenders, regardless of whether a weapon was involved in the alleged offending. Finocchiaro told reporters on Thursday she had gone back to Samara Laverty asking for her thoughts on strengthening the laws further. Laverty says she carries anger and overwhelming guilt for the death of supermarket owner Feick. She wishes she had tried harder to get stricter bail laws. 'This is what I was trying to stop, I couldn't stop it and now somebody else is dead,' she told The Australian on Friday. The CLP says it has 'strengthened laws at every opportunity' after 'inheriting a broken system that prioritised the historical trauma of perpetrators over the rights and safety of victims'. In the case of the two-month-old, the alleged attackers had collectively been charged with almost 300 other offences and bailed 35 times. They were on bail at the time of the alleged incident. The elderly man hacked with the machete? One of those boys, aged just 14, had been bailed for the third time since mid-December, and has more than 50 active charges before the courts. The man accused of raping the healthcare worker was convicted and imprisoned in April 2022 for a range of other offences, and was on a good behaviour bond at the time of the alleged sexual assault. Let's not forget the six Indigenous women who in the short time the CLP has been in government have been allegedly killed at the hands of their partners. How is it that the teenager charged with allegedly stabbing Feick, who was on bail while facing serious rape, deprivation of liberty and aggravated assault charges – charges that police and the Chief Minister refused to confirm – was not even monitored with an ankle bracelet while on bail? Why did no legal mind question the lenient conditions that were imposed on this man during one of over two dozen court appearances since he was bailed in December 2023? It is clear the Territory's justice system is broken. The answer isn't to lock every defendant into overcrowded, overrun, disgusting watch houses. It is clear not everyone should be put on remand. At the end of the day the granting of bail has to assess the seriousness of the alleged offending, the likelihood of a conviction or a sentence, whether there is a risk of an accused not appearing before the court, and whether they are a further risk to the public. If alleged offenders were not granted bail, the numbers of prisoners could possibly triple. And the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of the justice system. But there are many questions. Why is the justice system failing so badly that the court systems are simply a revolving door for offenders? We'll never know what could have happened if they had acted sooner. If you know more contact this writer at or message 0423 456 893 on Signal or WhatsApp. Liam is a journalist with the NSW bureau of The Australian. He started his journalism career as a photographer before freelancing for the NZ Herald, and the Daily Telegraph. Liam was News Corp Australia's Young Journalist of the Year in 2022 and was awarded a Kennedy Award for coverage of the NSW floods. He has also previously worked as a producer for Channel Seven's investigative journalism program 7News Spotlight. He can be contacted at MendesL@ or
Perth Now
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Fewer people to be bailed after shop owner's stabbing
Fewer people are set to be released on bail in the Northern Territory under tough laws triggered by a shop owner's fatal stabbing. The NT parliament will reconvene on Wednesday to pass legislation after a teenager was arrested following 71-year-old Darwin store owner Linford Feick's fatal stabbing. The 18-year-old, who was out on bail for "serious matters", handed himself in to police on Thursday morning but has not been charged. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she wanted the NT to have the country's toughest bail laws. "We're making sure we are taking strong action right now … and with these changes, we should see less people bailed," Ms Finocchiaro said. "If you do the wrong thing, we'll find a bed for you in a prison." The legislation will be modelled on Victorian and NSW laws, under which a judge must be satisfied that an offender is not going to pose a risk to the community if granted bail. A community is reeling after Mr Feick allegedly confronted a thief and was stabbed at the Nightcliff Friendly Grocer about 5.15pm on Wednesday. It comes after Darwin bottle shop worker Declan Laverty was fatally stabbed by a man on bail in 2023, which also ushered in bail law changes. Under Declan's Law, electronic monitoring devices became mandatory for repeat offenders granted bail and the scope of offences triggering a presumption against bail was expanded. "Territorians are angry, sad, they are frustrated and they are asking themselves when will enough be enough," Ms Finocchiaro said. The union representing retail staff said more had to be done to protect workers in the NT. "Nobody should go to work and not come home," the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association's Josh Peak told AAP. "Two violent deaths in the retail sector in the Northern Territory in the last two years shows that more must be done to keep workers safe." The NT's prison population has reportedly risen by more than 500 people since the Country Liberal Party won the 2024 election with a tough-on-crime agenda. Meanwhile, floral tributes have been laid outside the Nightcliff shop, with an outpouring of grief on social media. Mr Feick's wife Margaret described her husband as "a beautiful man, a true gentleman and my soulmate". "I am sitting here at 3am too broken to go to sleep because my life has been shattered," she wrote on Facebook. "My beautiful husband of 51 years was stolen from me, his children and his seven grandchildren."
