Slain teenager needed 'desperate help'

Liam Ashley

Liam Ashley's lawyer told a court hours before the teenager was fatally attacked in a prison van that the 17-year-old needed "desperate help".

The teenager was facing 10 charges, including burgling his parents' home and stealing their car.

Lawyer Geoffrey Anderson said Liam was not finding prison easy and sought an urgent sentencing date, a transcript made public yesterday by the North Shore District Court reveals.

"My concern is that this 17-year-old is in custody, he's not finding it an easy process, he's been picked on."

When bail for Liam was being discussed, Mr Anderson said Liam had nowhere to live.

"The problem is that mum won't have him at home and he's got nowhere to live."

The judge suggested Liam be sentenced as soon as possible.

Mr Anderson said Liam needed "some desperate help".

The judge asked whether Liam was being kept apart from adults in prison, to which Mr Anderson replied: "I don't know the answer to that. I guess we can ask and I can make a request that he be segregated but do we need to keep him?"

Liam was taken into custody after being picked up by police on August 17 at Orewa for breaching bail.

Last Thursday he was remanded to prison; hours later, he was strangled in a security van returning him to prison at Mt Eden.

A family spokesman yesterday said parents Ian and Lorraine Ashley feared Liam would offend against the community if he was allowed home.

Brett Ashley, Liam's uncle, said the family feared that if Liam was allowed home on bail, his offending would escalate.

"It's directly related to the fact he was going down a path," he said.

"Where this has been dealt with before he's always been brought home and they didn't want any escalation of what he was currently doing in the family home, knowing that if he did this, nearing the age of 18 and if he did this to someone else, then he would be in prison for real."

Mr Ashley said Liam had previously been bailed to the family home, but had also lived with his sister in Wellington.

If Liam's parents had not refused to take him back into their home, "he would have carried on and escalated to larger crime, and their fear is that that had to be stopped".

"He had potential for hanging out with the wrong type of people, and the safest place for him ... in the family's opinion, was with the police.

"Instead of having misdemeanours in the household, he could potentially take those outside and this was a much more serious matter.

"The best thing for them to do was put him in the care of the police - that wasn't just the parents who did that. The family sat down at a family meeting and made the decision that Liam was safer in the hands of the New Zealand justice system."

Three months ago, Mrs Ashley spoke to a community newspaper about living with Liam, who had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"It would be a novelty not to have any drama in a day. I haven't got a door in my house that doesn't have a hole punched in it," she told the North Shore Times in early June.

Mrs Ashley said Liam was, at 17, seen as an adult, but he was not. "We're stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea."

Liam could not hold down a job, she said.

"He's a nice guy, but he's a compulsive liar and he'll steal off you. All his mates have jobs, money or cars so he steals to keep up with them."

Brett Ashley said Liam's father, Ian, would talk about his son's history when the time was right.

Liam Ashley was facing 10 charges, seven of which he had pleaded guilty to and was awaiting sentence on:

1) Breach of bail - guilty
2) Found without reasonable excuse in enclosed yard - guilty
3) Driving while forbidden - guilty
4) Burglary - not guilty
5) Trespass - guilty
6) Possession of a knife - not guilty
7) Unlawfully taking motor vehicle - guilty
8) Burglary - guilty
9) Possession of a pipe - not guilty
10) Trespass - guilty

The charges relate to the following events:

June 29: Burglary, trespass and possession of a knife, all related to his parents' home. Charges 4, 5, 6.
June 30: Drove his parents' car around Long Bay College (while forbidden to drive) and seen doing wheelies in school grounds. Charges 2 & 3.
July 3: Court appearance, remanded until Aug 16.
July 6: Breach of police bail. Charge 1.
July 21: Breach of bail.
July 26: Trespassed at his parents' home, breaching his bail terms. Charge 10.
July 27: Breach of bail - given final warning about breaching bail curfew.
Aug 12: Broke into his parents' home and stole their car. Charges 7 & 8.
Aug 16: Failed to appear in court. Warrant issued for his arrest.
Aug 17: Arrested in Orewa. Found with a cannabis pipe on him. Charge 9.
Aug 18: Court appearance, believed to have been remanded in custody.
Aug 24: Appeared in court. Bail discussed. Remanded in custody until September 8 for sentencing. Strangled in Chubb van on the way back to prison.