WA: Freddo frog charges withdrawn
Mon Nov 23 15:44:47 EST 2009
Mon Nov 23 04:44:47 UTC 2009
PERTH, Nov 16 AAP - A 12-year-old Aboriginal boy has been awarded costs after charges involving the theft of a chocolate Freddo Frog were withdrawn in a West Australian court.
The boy was subject to national media attention this month after being charged with receiving a Freddo frog and a novelty sign.
The items were alleged to have been stolen from stores in the town of Northam, east of Perth.
West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan last week intervened in the case, asking for the two charges to be withdrawn.
Mr O'Callaghan said while the laying of the charges was "technically correct", the matter should have been handled by a police juvenile justice team.
A Northam Childrens Court officer said on Monday that police had dropped the charges and they had been dismissed by the court.
An order of $1,000 in costs was made in favour of the defendant.
Northam police had defended themselves against claims the charges were racially motivated, saying the boy had come to their notice in the past without being charged.
WA Aboriginal Legal Service chief lawyer Peter Collins, who acted for the boy, has said the charges were "scandalous" and would not have arisen if the boy had come from a "middle class, non-Aboriginal family" in Perth.
