Queensland AG to appeal two 'manifestly inadequate' sentences

A state government has filed appeals against two sentences it says were “manifestly inadequate” and failed to meet community expectations.

Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington on Monday lodged the notices of appeal through the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

One involves the sentence of a juvenile who crashed a stolen car, killing three people and seriously injuring another in Maryborough in 2023.

The other concerns that of Brock Andrew McDonald, in relation to the assault and deprivation of liberty of a young woman in October 2023.

Nurse Sheree Robertson, 52, Kelsie Davies, 17 and pastor Michale Chandler, 29, were killed in 2023 on Queensland’s Fraser Coast when their vehicles collided after being struck by a stolen car driven by the 13-year-old juvenile

A fourth woman, 23-year-old Kaylah Behrens, was critically injured.

The youth, with other juveniles, stole a Mercedes-Benz from a Maryborough home on April 30, 2023 and drove at speeds between 180 and 200km/h.

The youth was sentenced to six years’ detention in December and is likely to be released in just over two years’ time.

In the second matter, McDonald is alleged to have put a rope around a young woman’s neck before dragging her into a car in the early hours of the morning.

McDonald had pleaded guilty to charges of deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm.

He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years on parole in December, with 413 days as time served.

Ms Frecklington said in her view, the sentences do not meet community standards.

“I consider both sentences handed down to be manifestly inadequate,” the attorney-general said in a statement.

“Notices of appeal were lodged with the Court of Appeal registry today on my behalf by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“As the appeal process is now underway, no further comment will be made on these matters.”