Man In Jail 10 Years without Conviction

An intellectually disabled man has been languishing in jail for almost 10 years without being convicted or having evidence against him tested in court.

Marlon Noble was 19 when he was arrested in December 2001 for allegedly sexually assaulting two minors in Carnarvon.

He denied the charges.

Psychiatrists assessed him as being mentally unfit to stand trial and he was detained by District Court judge Peter Nisbet under the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Defendants) Act.

Judge Nisbet told Mr Noble in March 2003 he had a "deep concern that prison is not the place for you" but "nobody seems to know what to do with you".

He said he had no option but to make a custody order "at least until the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board reviews your position".

Judge Nisbet said while Mr Noble had no record of sexual offending, he did not want to risk public safety by releasing him back into a dysfunctional community without supervision.

Mr Noble, now 29, is being held at Greenough Regional Prison despite a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions in August last year that it no longer wanted to prosecute him.

A letter from senior DPP prosecutor Paul Yovich dated September 2010 confirmed: "I have concluded that there is no public interest in maintaining any prosecution of Mr Noble for the offences in respect of which he was first made subject to a custody order.

"There will, therefore, be no prosecution of these charges."

Mr Noble's lawyer, Matthew Holgate, presented the letter to the District Court in October but the judge did not have the power to deal with his client.

He can only be released by order of the Governor under advice from the Attorney-General, after recommendations by the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board, which is chaired by parole chief Narelle Johnson.

Mr Holgate, who began representing Mr Noble pro bono a year ago, does not know when he might be freed.

"There are people released into the community who have been convicted of numerous violent offences but Marlon has been held in custody without the evidence against him being tested in a court and it appears that he will remain there indefinitely," he said. "If he had been convicted he certainly wouldn't have spent even a quarter of the time in custody that he has now.

"When I heard about this case, I couldn't believe it was true."

A spokeswoman for the review board said the fact that the DPP did not want to continue a prosecution was not a factor the board was required to consider under the Act.

She would not discuss Mr Noble's case but said the first factor was the safety of the community.

Mr Noble was one of 30 review board cases which were all reviewed regularly and the subject of annual reports to the Attorney-General.

Retired social worker Ida Curtois formed a working party five years ago to organise Disability Services Commission carers and a Homeswest house to support a gradual release program for Mr Noble.

She said he had day and overnight leave in Geraldton for several years but that was cancelled by the review board late last year because he failed a urine test.

Ms Curtois believed the positive amphetamine-predictive test was caused by a Sudafed tablet given to him by a disability support worker.

Mr Noble's release was recommended by former review board chief Valerie French and was about to be submitted to former attorney-general Jim McGinty before Labor lost office in 2008.

The current board reversed that recommendation, apparently unsatisfied with provisions for 24-hour supervision.

Ms Curtois met an adviser to Attorney-General Christian Porter last week.

"My office has met with the advocates for this particular detainee and invited for them to correspond with us further on the issues they raised," Mr Porter said.

[Source : yahoo.com]