WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?

My 11 months of prison hell

Nick Taylor
April 07, 2007 02:00pm
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INNOCENT teenager Paddy Waring has spoken for the first time about his year of hell, locked up for a rape he did not commit.

He is bitter at a system that saw him languish with young criminals for 11 months, lost him a year of his childhood and ended his dream of becoming a history teacher.

The Catholic college schoolboy was petrified after being attacked in detention and claims he was threatened by police and young inmates.

The nightmare began 12 months ago for the then 15-year-old when a girl he says he met at Joondalup railway station, chatted to and exchanged phone numbers with, accused him of attacking her in the northern suburb's Central Park.

He was charged with four counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent, deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm.

Just before the three-week District Court trial began, the 17-year-old girl admitted lying about her sex life. She also admitted having sex with a man in a cinema on March 30 last year, two hours before the claimed rape.

All Paddy says is: "I am bitter. I'm just so bitter because nothing ever happened with that girl.''
Privately, he is a very angry young man.

Freedom came when the trial ended nine days ago.

Paddy's life was turned upside down when he received a phone call at home from, he says, a policewoman posing as the alleged victim.

"She was impersonating the girl. She was saying, `What's your name, where are you, what are you wearing?', all that sort of stuff.

"She asked who I was, she asked if I was the guy she met this afternoon,'' Paddy said.

Thinking it was a crank call, Paddy gave the phone to his brother Michael and the caller revealed she was an officer.

Michael was told a girl had been ``harassed'', that his brother might know something about it and they would be round to ask a few questions.

Four hours later, just before midnight, they arrived.

"I had gone to bed, I was tired of waiting and went to sleep,'' Paddy said.

"I got woken by a detective at my door pointing to my clothes, saying get changed. When I walked out there were a couple of detectives and 8-10 uniformed police officers.

"I thought, `This isn't just a few questions'.''

Police cautioned Paddy and he was taken to Joondalup police station with his brother.

"I was told that once they had asked me and Michael a few questions, I would be free to go home,'' Paddy said.

"Instead they put me in a holding cell.''

Paddy says he refused to talk to police until he had spoken to his parents, who were holidaying in Walpole.

He admits telling his parents he had never seen the girl, but denies lying to police.

"I only told the police that I didn't want to say anything until I'd spoken to my dad.

"I didn't say I hadn't spoken to the girl to the police officers. I didn't say anything to the police officers.

"I was really freaked out.

"I did tell dad I didn't know her, didn't see her. I said it because I was freaking out and wanted to distance myself as far as possible.

"I knew I hadn't done it. I knew when the DNA came back it would show I hadn't done it and I thought if I shut my mouth, it would eventually just go away.''

But it didn't go away.

Paddy claims that a detective told him: "You're a sick little f--k. You're going down. You might as well confess now before it gets worse for you''.

Another time, he claims an officer said: ``You're not showing any remorse. You're going down for a long time.''

Police say no threats were made.

Insp Peter Hatch said: "WA Police strenuously deny any verbal abuse or mistreatment towards Mr Waring whilst he was in the custody of police. Stringent guidelines surround the proper treatment of individuals in police custody and these were adhered to.

"Mr Waring was treated with the utmost respect and courtesy by WA Police Officers when in our care.''

Paddy was taken to an office where, via speaker-phone, his father told him he was going to Rangeview Remand Centre.

"The first thing I said was, `What's Rangeview?' I'd never even heard of it,'' he said.

"They put me in a paddy wagon. I remember it being a really long drive.

"I didn't know where it was, they didn't say anything, it was at night, it was cold, it wasn't fun.

"I just couldn't believe it was happening. I didn't understand what was happening.

"When I got out of the paddy wagon I was scared, scared out of my mind, and I kept thinking, `This is not happening, it's not happening'.''

Paddy said that as he was being processed, he was told by group workers (juvenile detention guards) not to tell anyone why he was at Rangeview.

"They said, `No-one will find out if you don't tell them. Just say that you stole a car or something because kids in here are trial, judge, jury and execution and they will punish you if they find out','' he said.

A few days later, when he was transferred to Banksia Hill Detention Centre, Paddy says he was told the same thing - keep the allegations quiet.

But, he said, his charge sheet was left on a table and a group of detainees on cleaning duty read it.

"At first I didn't believe they had seen it, but then they were able to quote my charges verbatim. I thought, `Oh s--t','' Paddy said.

"I went from scared to being petrified.

"There were times I was too scared to leave my cell. I would just stand there. It was not a fun place to be.''

Eventually he was able to convince a few other detainees of his innocence.

"There were a few kids who I told what had happened, they were looking out for me, to protect me,'' he said.

"There were a few guys that thought I'd got a raw deal and that I was an OK sort of guy, but I was threatened. `I'm gonna kick your head in, you f--ing rapist' was one of the most common ones.

"The thing that really sucked was that if you wanted to get a ahead in there, you had to kick someone's head in and I wasn't able to do anything like that.

"If I started getting aggro, it would go on my record so for the whole year I had to stay a pacifist.

"It wasn't fun. I took a few hits.

"Sometimes I didn't even know why they did it. There were a couple of times when there was no threat, it was just a straight-out hit.

"One time this guy just came up to me and hit me right on the side of the face. I hit the ground, got up and walked away because I didn't want to get involved.

"You had to be able to survive though, so after a while I wised up and started doing a lot more exercise, doing weights, making myself look big.

"When guys tried to start a fight I could just sit there and say, `OK'.

"They'd think twice and I'd walk away and think I've just avoided that one.

"I used to take frustration out on my mattress. I'd put it against a wall and punch and kick and beat it until I made a hole and stuffing began falling out.''

But Paddy has only good words for most of the group workers.

"They really did look after me,'' he said.

He now describes himself as `world weary'

"I've managed to maintain my sense of humour, even if it is a little bit more dark,'' he says.

The only plans he has are to finish Years 11 and 12.