WA Liberals want students on serious criminal charges banned from school following ‘gel blaster’ gun incident at

The State Opposition has said students on serious criminal charges should be barred from attending school unless they can prove they are not a risk – following revelations a teenager on bail for an alleged armed robbery took a “gel blaster” weapon onto the campus of a Perth high school last week. The West Australian revealed last week how the Year 11 student sparked panic at Willetton Senior High School last Monday, when he arrived with the illegal “gel blaster” along with a 30cm kitchen knife. Yesterday it emerged that same student was on bail at the time, having been accused of wearing a mask and brandishing a blade to rob another student of two pairs of expensive sneakers. Shadow Minister for Police Peter Katsambanis today said he believed students and teachers at the school had been exposed to an “unacceptable risk” by the incident — and it was “sheer luck” a potential tragedy had been averted by a quick-thinking student calling Crimestoppers. “Every parent, student and teacher in WA is mortified that someone facing serious armed robbery charges can be allowed to continue to attend school whilst on bail, without the school community being aware of the criminal charges or the risks involved,” Mr Katsambanis said. “There are no excuses. Students on bail for serious crimes should be barred from attending school unless a magistrate clearly finds that they do not pose a risk to other students or school staff. “As we have seen with other recent serious incidents involving high school students, serious crime activity is sadly no longer limited to adults.” Perth Children’s Court was told the gel blaster incident was sparked by a “beef” between two gangs at the school, with the accused 16 year-old said to belong to a group calling themselves the “55’s” — a reference to the Willetton post code of 6155. After threats were made via social media to a rival student — which included warnings bricks would be thrown at his house — a fight between the two groups was planned for after school last Monday. Prosecutor Sinead Purvis said the boy “told students that he was going to use the pistol to assist friends in a fight that was planned for after school between two groups of students.” “Throughout the school day he showed numerous students at the school the pistol — who believed the pistol to be a functioning firearm,” Ms Purvis said. But police arrested the boy in a workshop before the end of the school day, before he told them: “I was just showing my friends.” The court was told at the time the boy was on bail, and on a 24-hour curfew, following an alleged robbery on March 31. It was on that day another student thought he was selling two pairs of Nike sneakers for $750. Instead he was allegedly jumped by a gang, including the accused wearing a mask and carrying a curved “Karambit” style knife. Mr Katsambanis said changes to the Bail Act should be considered by the State Government. “The Bail Act needs to be amended to ensure that in all future bail applications magistrates directly take into account whether the accused poses an unacceptable risk to anyone attending an educational institution,” he said “If they are found to do so, then at an absolute minimum they should have a condition imposed that they should not attend that school until the charges are determined. “If a magistrate finds that the accused may not comply with that condition then they should not be granted bail. The teenager admitted taking the ‘gel blaster’ gun, along with the knife, into the high school. He is due back in court on June 4.