NT: Magistrate a specialist in sentencing but no discretion

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2000
NT: Magistrate a specialist in sentencing but no discretion

EDS: Restores keyword



By Catharine Munro

DARWIN, Feb 17 AAP - Northern Territory Magistrate Greg Cavanagh has a specialist degree
in sentencing but yesterday had no choice but to send a 21-year-old to jail for one year
for stealing a box of biscuits.

The 48-year-old former criminal lawyer attained a Masters degree from London University
in sentencing in 1986 and Bachelors of Jurisprudence and Laws from Monash University but
cannot exercise his discretion when he finds a suspect guilty of a property offence.

Discretion was taken from him by the NT Parliament in March 1997, six months after
he was appointed a magistrate.

Under mandatory sentencing laws jail terms are set out for first, second and third
property offences no matter what was stolen.

Adults receive 14 days, 3 months and one year respectively, while juveniles receive
28 days for second offences.

Mr Cavanagh, who is also the Territory Coroner, has a reputation for consistently pointing
out the problems with the laws when handing down judgments.

Yesterday, while presiding over court on remote Groote Eylandt 800km from Darwin, he
found 21-year-old Jamie Wurramara guilty of stealing a box of biscuits from a mine site
on the island.

He questioned the use of sending people from Groote Eylandt to jail, noting Wurramara
had only been out of jail for a few weeks when he committed the offence.

But he told Wurramara's lawyer:

"I must not let possible penalties sway me about whether he is guilty beyond reasonable
doubt, no matter how offensive the penalties are to yourself and others".

Along with the other eight NT magistrates, as an officer of the court he refuses to
speak publicly about the laws because they are a matter of government policy.

Mr Cavanagh's position is made more delicate because his wife, Margaret Lyons, is involved
in the Country Liberal Party.

She is the Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke's chief of staff.

It was Mr Cavanagh who in January found a 15-year-old boy, also from Groote Eylandt,
guilty of stealing stationary and breaking a window.

That boy died in custody last week after being found with a sheet around his neck.

Clearly distressed about the task of sending Wurramara to jail yesterday, Mr Cavanagh
told reporters after adjourning the court he would stand down as coroner in the separate
case of the 15-year-old's death.

Former NT chief magistrate Ian Gray said the working under a mandatory sentencing regime
was difficult personally.

The new laws were a factor in Mr Gray's decision in 1997 to retire from the NT judiciary
after seven years to return to work as a barrister in Melbourne.

"When you are required to impose what you think is an unjust, unfair and disproportionate
sentence, it's an unsatisfactory," Mr Gray said.

But magistrates were required to be robust in their day to day work and would see handing
down sentences as part of their job, he said.

"You can't sit around wringing your hands, you have to get on with the next one."

AAP cm/ah/br

KEYWORD: MANDATORY CAVANAGH REPEATING

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