Mrs. Hayden questions the Attorney General regarding a small business owner charged after a citizen's arrest of a shoplifter, the subsequent dropping of the case, and requests compensation. The Attorney General states he cannot answer and hasn't received an application for an ex gratia payment.

AnsweredQoN 1013Legislative Assembly
Asked
31 October 2019
Portfolio
Attorney General

QuestionView source ↗

LAW AND ORDER —
SMALL BUSINESS
1013. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Attorney General:
Before
I ask my question, I would like to acknowledge the ladies in the Speaker's
gallery from the Emergent Women's Program and welcome them to
Parliament today.
I refer to a small business owner
in Kelmscott who was so frustrated with the ongoing out-of-control shoplifting that he undertook a citizen's arrest of
one of the criminals in his shop. As a result, the criminal's family
returned and ransacked his shop and assaulted him and his staff.
(1) Can the
Attorney General explain to the house why he was charged?
(2) Why was the
case dropped by the state?
(3) Will the
Attorney General provide an ex gratia payment for compensation of the small
business owner for costs beyond the $1 500 court costs?
Dr A.D. Buti : The Attorney General
doesn't get involved with those sorts of matters.
The SPEAKER : The member for
Armadale does not either. I call you to order for the first time.

AnswerView source ↗

(1)–(3) No,
I cannot. I have not received an application for an ex gratia payment. Someone
was arrested by the police and charged with an offence. The police have decided
to drop the charge. I am not privy to that. As for ex gratia payments, I have
not received any application and the government has not received any
application. If one is received, we will weigh it and consider it like
everything else.

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