Young man with severe intellectual disabilities to spend two years in Queensland jail without trial

A 21-year-old man with severe intellectual disabilities, known as MZU in court documents, is set to spend two years in jail without ever facing trial.

That’s due to “profoundly regrettable” delays in the Queensland Mental Health Court, chief justice Helen Bowskill said last Thursday as she refused bail to the young man due to an “inability to understand … the undertaking.”

MZU has already been in custody since November 2022 in relation to the 72 charges, which allegedly range from fare evasion, to public masturbation, and three serious violent assaults, police allege.

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But Bowskill said: “This is unquestionably a tragic case, of a young man who is himself the victim of an appallingly prejudicial childhood.”

MZU is alleged to have attacked a 63-year-old nurse who was on her way to work early in the morning on a tram. He was allegedly trying to steal her handbag, and stomped on her head, leaving her unconscious and suffering serious injuries.

He also allegedly assaulted a 75-year-old man, who was working as a cleaner in a shopping centre, by hitting him with a chair and continuing to punch him while he was on the ground.

The young man’s psychiatric history began at the age of six, according to a report by psychiatrist Dr Roy, which noted “severe impairment” caused by a damaging childhood including “psychological and emotional abuse, neglect and trauma.”

He was also diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and PTSD, a second psychiatric report from MZU’s treating doctor, Dr Wasowicz said.

Wasowicz, deemed his patient “temporarily unfit for trial”, but Bowskill said MZU is likely to be deemed “permanently unfit for trial” during his Mental Health Court hearing in December 2024.

“Having regard to the psychiatric evidence, it is likely the charges will be discontinued following that hearing, on the basis that the applicant is permanently unfit for trial,” Bowskill said.

By then, the young man will have spent two years imprisoned.

Bowskill outlined a hypothetical bail arrangement whereby MZU might live with his grandmother, engage with mental health services, and abstain from drugs.

But due to an inability to conclude the young man would voluntarily engage with mental health treatment, or that his behaviour could be controlled by his grandmother, or his impairment removed by abstaining from drugs, Bowskill refused bail.

The risk of re-offending was ultimately found to be too high, and includes the risk of ”random violence directed at older members of the public, with potentially severe consequences,” Bowskill said.

Half of MZU’s 72 charges — which also include charges for alleged theft, obstructing police, and 18 breach of bail charges— were referred to the Mental Health Court in February 2023.

But Bowskill said the matter should be heard in the Mental Health Court before the December 2024 hearing date.

She urged the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions to raise the matter with the court registry to deal with it “as soon as possible.”

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