Judge ‘concerned’ man with special needs spent 451 days in custody despite offence not attracting jail term

A judge has expressed concern about a case in which a man with a number of complex disabilities has spent 451 days in custody — despite being granted bail — for an offence she said does not attract a jail term. While the District Court judge said Kade Ashley Joe Blake’s offending was a “serious thing”, she lambasted the way in which the Kalgoorlie-Boulder man’s case was dealt with. Blake was 18 when he was charged with indecently dealing with a teenage girl while in Kmart on November 13, 2021. During that incident he approached two girls in the store and stood so close to one of them they were “almost touching”. While she was trying to step backwards in an attempt to move away from Blake, he squeezed her right buttock. The court was told the offence was an “escalation” of previous offending and that the teenage girl was so traumatised she cried to her friend immediately after the incident. Blake, now 20, appeared in the Kalgoorlie District Court on Monday having spent almost 15 months behind bars waiting to be sentenced on a charge he had already pleaded guilty to. Blake had previously been granted bail but was not released from custody because the conditions were dependent on a stringent care regime, with approved accommodation — virtually impossible to find in the Goldfields. The court was told the man had a complex set of needs, with an FASD diagnosis, intellectual disabilities and cognitive challenges. The judge asked how Blake had spent almost 15 months behind bars for a crime she said would not have resulted in imprisonment. She said she was “very concerned” the District Court had not dealt with the matter more urgently, leading to a lengthy — and unwarranted — custody stint. The decision, she said, was more alarming because of Blake’s needs, which saw him moved from Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison because he was too “vulnerable” for the facility. While in custody at Casuarina Prison in Perth, he was kept away from other inmates because of those vulnerabilities, with the court told he spent much of his time in relative isolation. Defence lawyer Levana Polmear said Blake had suffered trauma throughout his life, with the death of his mother and grandmother hitting him particularly hard. She said he had lived a transient life between family members who were now “getting older and didn’t have the strength” to provide the care Blake needed. “I’m really sorry . . . that you spent so much time in custody,” the judge said. She said the period was far too long for the graveness of the offending and fined Blake $100. A mandatory restraining order was also granted but had limited conditions because the girl was not known to the offender. “You can’t touch people unless they ask you to touch them otherwise you might find yourself back in court,” the judge said. On Monday, a funded carer travelled to Kalgoorlie-Boulder to collect Blake on his release. The pair were then flew to Perth where full-time care and approved accommodation had been arranged. Blake will return to Kalgoorlie-Boulder once appropriate supervision had been arranged.