WA’s justice system is “falling apart at the seams”, Libby Mettam has declared, slamming the State’s parole board for recommending the release of notorious mass murderer Douglas Crabbe.
The West Australian revealed on Monday that Crabbe had been signed off for release after 40 years in prison for the murder of five people when he drove his truck through the Uluru Hotel in 1983.
Crabbe, who completed a resocialisation program last year, is now a step closer to walking free from prison, now just needing sign off from Attorney-General John Quigley.
Ms Mettam said the Government had demonstrated a “light touch” to the justice system and expected Crabbe would remain behind bars.
![General - Douglas Crabbe - Douglas John Edwin Crabbe - murderer jailed in WA coming up for parole
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“The Cook Labor Government must start listening to community expectations and ensure Crabbe remains behind bars,” she said.
“We are hearing too often the tragic outcomes of the light touch approach we are seeing to Western Australia’s justice system and it is innocent people who are ultimately paying the price for the Cook Labor Government’s light touch approach to parole.
“When you consider the devastation that has been caused and that only eight years (per victim) has been served of what was meant to be a life sentence — we need to ensure that community expectations are actually being met.”
Premier Roger Cook said Mr Quigley would consider the parole board’s report “very carefully”.
“The parole board has community safety as its number one issue in relation to the decisions that it makes and they prepare reports — very carefully based reports — based upon careful consideration of the advice from experts,” Mr Cook said.
![Premier Roger Cook speaks to media during the Perth Zoo Primate Crossing Announcement on May 20, 2024.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/fd25a97810534a6181acc850a10c3d34eb4f6bf9.jpg)
When asked whether he believed it was appropriate Crabbe be released, the Premier repeated the need for caution.
“Ultimately we want people to serve their time and where rehabilitation has taken place, and where people cease being a risk to the community, then obviously, it’s appropriate that (release) be considered, but we need to take on board all the advice and we’ll consider those reports very carefully,” he said.
Originally sentenced to “life means life” imprisonment in the Northern Territory, the repeal of laws there converted Crabbe’s sentence to a 30-year minimum term.
After transferring to prison in Perth in 2005 to be closer to his family, Crabbe first became eligible for parole in 2016, but that was rejected by Mr Quigley’s predecessor Michael Mischin.
Bernadette Schiller, who survived Crabbe’s murderous rampage, told The West she had been advised by the Prisoner Review Board of their recommendation to release him.
“It works out to be eight years per murder, which is totally unacceptable to me,” she said.