Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’

stopthatgirl7 · 9 months ago

Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

If you are charged, the police may release you on bail from the watch-house. Otherwise, they must take you to court as soon as possible and release you if the court grants bail.

He was found sufficiently suspicious/liable enough in the initial investigation to warrant being arrested and given a formal charge, but still released on bail.

If police charge you with an offence, they must give you a notice to appear or a full charge sheet (also called a bench charge sheet), which provides details of the charge. Police will provide the full charge sheet if they arrest and formally charge you at the watch house.

They saw what he was doing to her, agreed enough to charge him with a crime, and then released him, with details of her complaints to the police in hand. DVO + this new offense should have been obvious that he has reoffend - the police’s behavior was completely negligent

@Custoslibera · 9 months ago

Are you saying that police released him on bail?

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

Article clearly says:

At the beginning of April 2021, police charged Johnston with four serious domestic violence offences against Wilkinson. He was given watch house bail. In the weeks that followed, Wilkinson attempted to speak to police “almost every day” about her concerns

I’m not a lawyer, nor an Australian lawyer, but a quick search seems that “watch house bail” is the term for “released on bail/bond” equivalent - hence the prior link to the Queensland government website.

@Custoslibera · 9 months ago

In that case then yeah they screwed up.