Source : Perth Now news
A woman acquitted of killing Aboriginal schoolboy Cassius Turvey was back before the court after she breached her bail conditions.
Aleesha Gilmore, 24, was one of four people charged with the 15-year-old’s murder but was found not guilty by a jury following a lengthy trial in the Western Australia Supreme Court last year.
However, the jury found Gilmore guilty of other offences, including the assault and the deprivation of liberty of other schoolboys in the days before Cassius was brutally murdered by her co-accused Jack Brearley and Brodie Palmer.
She received a suspended jail term of one year and three months after already serving two years and six months for her role in a series of events that ended in Cassius’ death.
More than a year after Gilmore was granted bail, she was back before the WA Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Peter Quinlan on Monday after police caught her driving without a licence in High Wycombe in June, breaching her bail conditions.
It follows another incident where she was caught driving in excess of the legal alcohol limit, recording a roadside breath test of 0.098 in December last year.
She appeared in court via a video link with her lawyer Simon Freitag, who told the court his client was fined $1000 and had her driver’s licence suspended for nine months.
Mr Freitag said Gilmore now took Ubers, lived with family and was trying to find fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) work but was having difficulty because of her criminal record and asked the court for her order to continue.
“She has changed her lifestyle to avoid this breach again,” he said.
“Her last employment was a cleaning job. She is trying to get administration FIFO work and is cleaning when she can.
“She was working as contract cleaner, she was asked to provide a police clearance and couldn’t be kept on because of her convictions.
“She does want to work FIFO if she can, but it will take more time to get that … given what’s on her police clearance.”
State prosecutor Benjamin Stanwix said the state was not pursuing an immediate jail term for Gilmore, as it would not give her the type of rehabilitation opportunities she had been participating in.
“I don’t want Ms Gilmore to leave with the impression that the state has a soft touch on these sort of things. If it happens again, we would most certainly support her going to jail,” he said.
The Chief Justice told Gilmore that while she was not responsible for Cassius’ death her notoriety and name would always be associated with that offence.
“I can assure you there would be no interest in any other case of a breach for diving without a licence if it not the fact of your notoriety,” he said.
“I said at the time with the right support you had reasonable prospects, but it would not be easy by any means.
“Your notoriety makes it more difficult for you to gain employment, but it is not a reason to give up but continue your efforts to make sure you complete supervision and become a productive member of the community.”
Gilmore was fined $500 and her bail conditions continued.
