A 13-year-old Victorian boy is one in every of eight youngsters dedicated to face trial for the homicide of Declan Cutler, when a Justice of the Peace determined that, regardless of his youth, he was able to forming a felony intent.
The Justice of the Peace dominated that he didn’t must learn the 1,100-page report on whether or not the 13-year-old, who couldn’t be named, didn’t have the psychological means generally known as the Dolly Incapacus Doctrine.
As an alternative, he relied on the skilled opinion of a psychologist who, with out interviewing the boy, discovered that he might stand trial, in distinction to the place obtained by a distinct psychologist solely months earlier than the alleged homicide.
The presiding Justice of the Peace mentioned that this was most likely the primary case heard in a kids’s court docket through which the Dolly Incapax precept was raised in respect of an accused of homicide.
In Victoria, the legislation acknowledges {that a} baby aged 10 to 14 lacks the capability to be criminally accountable for his or her acts. The notion of Dolly Incapax is predicated on the concept that a toddler isn’t sufficiently intellectually and morally developed to understand the distinction between proper and unsuitable.
court docket heard That the earlier Dolly Incapax report accomplished by a distinct psychologist in July 2021 in reference to one other alleged crime dedicated by the boy discovered that he didn’t have this means.
Police had withdrawn earlier expenses towards the boy after receiving this report, the court docket heard, because it didn’t imagine it might contradict Dolly Incapax’s notion.
Cutler, 16, died in a reservoir north of Melbourne on March 13.
Throughout a July court docket look, through which the 13-year-old unsuccessfully utilized for bail, the court docket heard that the alleged homicide occurred within the context of friction between the 2 teams, leading to violence and threats.
A choose mentioned on the time that Cutler had reportedly been “violently killed throughout a frenzied assault involving a number of weapons”.
The court docket additionally heard throughout the bail utility that there was hassle within the upbringing of the kid, together with being a sufferer and a witness to the household violence dedicated by his father.
An older brother has additionally been charged with homicide of Cutler, and one other older brother has been charged with a separate homicide.
The court docket heard that the boy had been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction whereas on remand, which contributed to “low-fatality” self-harm and different issues.
The boy and 7 different accused will seem within the Supreme Courtroom on October 11 for the listening to of the instructions.