"Young Man With Severe Disability Faces Uncertain Future"

A young man who has a severe intellectual disability as well as various psychological disorders after suffering appalling childhood abuse, faces spending the next two years in prison- due to delays in Queensland’s Mental Health Court.

The 21-year-old, anonymised in court documents as MZU, has been in custody since November 2022 on 72 charges including three serious assaults, burglary, obstructing police, car theft, fare evasion, public acts of indecency and breach of bail.

MZU was denied bail in Queensland’s Supreme Court at the end of July, as the court cited that he posed an unacceptable risk to the community.

But chief justice Helen Bowskill also heard that it was “likely” a pending hearing in the mental health court, scheduled for December, would discontinue charges against him and find him permanently unfit for trial.

People with severe intellectual disabilities who are placed in indefinite detention often find themselves detained longer, than if they had been sentenced in a court of law.

Two psychiatrists have provided reports that would support MZU being found unfit for trial. Bowskill urged the Queensland director of public prosecutions to push for an uncontested hearing in the mental health court to take place “as soon as possible”.

The court heard that MZU “has a fairly substantial juvenile criminal history” and “a “longstanding relationship with mental health services since he was a child”.

He was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after having suffered an “appallingly prejudicial childhood” that included psychological and emotional abuse, neglect and trauma.

MZU is described in psychiatrist’s reports as having speech difficulties, a language impairment, and an intellectual impairment.

One of the reports considered by Chief Justice Bowskill, stated the primary cause of MZU’S offending was his developmental disabilities and mental disorders. A psychiatrist has concluded that MZU is not fit for trial.

The court heard that the 72 charges included three serious assaults of older people, including an alleged attack on a 63-year-old nurse on a Gold Coast tram. MZU allegedly attempted to steal her handbag, struck the woman and stomped on her head, leaving her unconscious and suffering serious injuries.

The DPP opposed bail, arguing MZU had “a propensity for violent offending”.

Prosecutors argued that the mental health court was “best placed to make an appropriate decision” about MZU’s future, including making a potential forensic order.

In denying MZU bail, Bowskill said: “This is unquestionably a tragic case of a young man who is himself the victim of an appallingly prejudicial childhood, which has caused severe impairment”.

MZU’S case is scheduled to be heard in Queensland’s Mental Health Court in December 2024, however Chief Justice Bowskill cited that it would preferable for MZU’S case to be heard ar an earlier date for his own wellbeing.

While our justice system is a complex system with a huge number of cases clogging up our courts each year, surely there is some way of fast tracking cases in special circumstances, circumstances in which prolonging justice will ultimately bring more harm than good to both the defendant and the system itself.