"Someone once said, 'The law is an ass', " is how John from East Lismore started when he emailed the Lismore App. John was referring to a recent break-and-enter case that occurred at his set of units on Dibbs Street that left 80-year-old Bernadette traumatised and her arrested perpetrator set free.

The offence itself took place at 11pm on July 14 this year when two youths broke into Benadette's unit and attempted to rob her while she slept.

John is Bernadette's neighbour. He heard the two would-be juvenile thieves as they walked past his window behind his unit.

"There were two of them. They came past my bedroom window in the unit that I live in. But we don't have back doors in our unit. We only have one front door."

Bernadette's unit is one of two in the middle of two rows of units and did have a back door.

"People normally lock their doors, but on this occasion, she forgot to lock the back door."

John immediately rang the police, and luckily for Bernadette, there was a car in the vicinity, which led to the police arriving very quickly. The thieves were still in the unit as the police searched the premises with torches on.

"The kids came out, saw the coppers and ran. And, the coppers ran after him and got one of them."

According to John, the thieves dropped Bernadette's handbag when they saw the police.

"Bernadette told me that they had everything all lined up on the cupboard inside her lounge room. They had keys and jewellery and all sorts of things."

Three months later, in early October, Bernadette and John went to the Children's Court to testify at the youth's trial.

"We were met by the arresting officers who informed us we would not be required as the judge was not going to proceed with the case because of the young age of the accused. So, the end result was the perpetrator was allowed to go free and continue his life of crime."

The Lismore App applied for the fact sheet in the case. It read, 'Charge of Aggravated B&E commit serious indictable offence was Dismissed – Withdrawn on 08 Oct 2024'. 

Police cannot comment on the case as it involves a juvenile whose case has been heard. John said he thought the thieves were 13 or 14 years old.

It is likely that the criminal was aged over 10 years but under 14, as that is when the 'doli incapax' rule can apply.

The doli incapax rule operates throughout Australia. In principle, it assumes that children aged 10 to 14 are 'criminally incapable' unless proven otherwise. This presumption can be rebutted by the prosecution calling evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the child, at the time of doing the act, knew that it was seriously wrong as a matter of morality, or according to the ordinary principles of reasonable persons (and not merely naughty or mischievous).

The benefit is it keeps young offenders out of the justice system as they are thought to be from troubled homes. Statistically, if children enter the justice system at a young age, they are more likely to re-offend.

Of course, the doli incapax rule can be abused time and time again by a young criminal until the age of 14. That criminal can re-offend as each case is dealt with separately.

While most crimes involving 10 to 14-year-olds are non-violent, they revolve around theft or robbery; their victims are not so lucky.

John says that Bernadette has been traumatised by the incident.

"She is very, very apprehensive. She doesn't feel safe anymore. She was telling me the other day she locks the doors at 4. 30 every afternoon and keeps checking them until she goes to bed. And then, when she's in bed, any little noise she hears, she gets up. Prior to the incident she was quite happy going about her business and enjoyed a full social life."

Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents.

"We get this all the time. It's very disappointing, you know? I mean, we get kids through here all the time, and I've rung the police many times, and this is the first time we've been able to catch somebody. Since then, there's been three kids walk through here; walked past my window again checking out the cars in the park under the carport at two o'clock in the morning."

The best way to avoid being a victim is to lock your doors and lock your cars. However, it still doesn't help an elderly person living their life and forgetting to lock the door on one occasion.

John said the Diocese of Lismore operates the premises. There is a meeting scheduled for next week to discuss increasing security measures to make all residents safer and to deter criminals from entering the premises.

John's closing line? "So that saying, "the law is an ass" was once again proven to be correct."