Government to crack down on mantraps

25/9/02
Attorney General Jim McGinty will introduce legislation this year to make it a criminal offence for anyone to know that a mantrap has been set and fail to take reasonable action to make it harmless.
Mr McGinty said the person responsible for setting the barbaric mantraps found recently in the hills south of Perth was guilty of a despicable act and deserved to be hit with the full force of the law.
But he was equally concerned that other people who know what the offender is up to but fail to do anything about it should be held equally accountable.
"If someone is injured or killed in one of these traps, a person who could have stopped it but chose to do nothing is in my view just as culpable as the person who set the trap," he said.
"Under the new laws, both will face a penalty of up to three years imprisonment."
The traps found in the hills include barbed wire strung across a bush track and tyre spikes found on the ground. They are believed to be targeted at trail bike riders.
Mr McGinty said he would also be tightening the law to overcome a potential loophole in the present definition of a mantrap.
Section 305 of the Criminal Code presently refers to 'any spring-gun, mantrap, or other engine calculated to destroy human life or to inflict grievous bodily harm'. This has been interpreted as restricting the meaning of mantraps and spring-guns to devices that are 'engines'.
Mr McGinty said he was aware of a case in 1998 where a man charged with leaving planks of wood embedded with long nails on his property where people jumping the fence were likely to come in contact with them, was able to evade conviction because the nailed plank was not regarded as an 'engine'.
The new laws will define a mantrap as any article, device or substance that by reason of its nature, situation, operation or condition, may endanger the life, health or safety of a person.
Attorney General's office: 9220 5000