LAW LETS KILLER ESCAPE TRIAL
13.07.1999
Law lets killer escape trial
Tony Koch
chief reporter
THE distraught mother of a 17-year-old girl brutally stabbed to death on the Gold Coast late last year has blasted the Queensland justice system which will ensure her daughter's killer never faces trial.
Instead he will be treated at the John Oxley hospital, Wacol for his mental illness and will be released when doctors decide he is cured.
Claude John Gabriel, 23, was charged with murdering Janaya Christie Clarke on November 9, 1998.
An autopsy revealed she suffered 13 knife wounds to the upper body in the frenzied attack.
Janaya's mother, Robyn Clarke, said she could not understand a system that allowed the killer to escape a murder charge.
``I was told by government officials that because he was found to be of unsound mind at the time, he will now never face trial,'' Mrs Clarke said.
``He is to be a mental patient, and when doctors decide his illness is fixed up, he will be released and can never be charged.''
The Queensland Government announced a review of the Mental Health Act after a public outcry over the case of Ross Mitchell Farrah, who kicked his girlfriend to death at Coolum in 1996. He did not face trial after a tribunal ruling.
Under legislation which does not exist anywhere in the British Commonwealth except Queensland, an application can be made to the Mental Health Tribunal to establish an accused person's mental state at the time of committing a particular crime.
In all other jurisdictions, a person who commits a crime must stand trial. The jury is then able to incorporate in its verdict the additional finding that the person was of unsound mind at the time of the offence.
Health Minister Wendy Edmond said she sympathised with all families of victims such as Janaya Clarke.
``This legislation is being reviewed, and we have had submissions from people expressing concern about the very issues Mrs Clarke has raised,'' she said.
Janaya, her flatmate Natalie Schindler, 17, and another teenage girl were hitch-hiking on the Gold Coast on November 8 and were picked up by Gabriel. Late that afternoon he dropped Natalie and her friend off and was to take Janaya a short distance back to her unit. She never arrived and was killed the next afternoon in Gabriel's unit.
He was detained five hours later, walking naked on the Royal Pines golf course.
The Mental Health Tribunal met in Brisbane on June 11 to consider Gabriel's application.
Evidence was given by three psychiatrists who examined Gabriel. Each concluded that he was suffering from ``disorganised schizophrenia'' when he killed Janaya.
He had previously been involved in violent assaults while living in Melbourne and had been examined by psychiatrists, none of whom diagnosed schizophrenia.
Victims of Homicide spokeswoman Eleanor Harper said the healing process for people who had a friend or relative murdered was complete only if the perpetrator was tried, convicted and jailed.
``With the Mental Health Tribunal, that never happens,'' Mrs Harper said.
``The only person considered is the criminal.''
