‘Did not bother’: Queensland judge calls out police failings in case of teenage boy

A Queensland judge laid out police ‘failures’ to conduct basic investigations into the incident, and said explanations for those failures were ‘entirely unsatisfactory’. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

A Queensland boy who claims he was wrongly accused of a home invasion has been found not guilty, after a court ruled police officers made no effort to confirm his account, failed to gather certain evidence, and “did not bother” to take relevant witness statements.

Police brought a charge against the boy, who is of African descent, alleging he was one of five teenagers who entered a woman’s room and demanded money in October 2021. He was accused in court of being armed with a steering wheel lock.