{"id":32058,"date":"2016-05-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/inadequate-facilities-lead-women-to-plead-the-belly-to-avoid-prison-2\/"},"modified":"2016-05-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T00:00:00","slug":"inadequate-facilities-lead-women-to-plead-the-belly-to-avoid-prison-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/inadequate-facilities-lead-women-to-plead-the-belly-to-avoid-prison-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Inadequate facilities lead women to \u2018plead the belly\u2019 to avoid prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Advertiser\u2019s chief court reporter Sean Fewster says an old legal tactic called \u201cpleading the belly\u201d is making a comeback in South Australia because there are inadequate facilities to imprison mothers.<\/h3>\n

\u201cThere used to be a concept in British law called \u2018pleading the belly,\u2019\u201d Fewster told David and Will on FIVEAA breakfast. \u201cFemale pirates would get themselves pregnant if they were facing the gallows to make sure they weren\u2019t hung.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, because SA has no capacity to imprison mothers, Fewster said the tactic had been \u201cbrought to new life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s people out there who think to themselves, \u2018If I do this, I will be spared because somebody\u2019s going to show mercy,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is now a flaw in our system, and that flaw is a lack of adequate facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of bandwagon jumpers that are saying here\u2019s a quick way out of the cells.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the latest high-profile case, Samantha Farrer who killed a mother of three<\/a> in a hit-and-run while driving on drugs is now hoping to avoid jail because she conceived and gave birth to a son following the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pregnancy follows on from an offence, you\u2019ve got to look at it a little sideways,\u201d Fewster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much of this is accident, how much of this is family planning and how much of this is tactic?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fewster questioned the motives of some of the lawyers exploiting the state\u2019s inadequate facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got no doubt that the lawyers that are running this, many of them are very, very sincere about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeather Stokes believes very passionately in this idea about having adequate facilities for women and children in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, I\u2019m sure that there are others that are saying, \u2018Let\u2019s get this up, let\u2019s give this a go.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m certain there are defendants out there who are saying, \u2018I just don\u2019t want to go to jail, I\u2019ll do anything. Let\u2019s stick the kids right up in front and get a bit of a cry and an emotional thing in there,\u2019\u201d Fewster said.<\/p>\n

LISTEN TO SEAN FEWSTER HERE:<\/h3>\n