A MOUNT Isa man charged with the torture and assault of a 15-year-old and 10-year-old boy had his bail conditions amended because of "financial hardship" in the Magistrates Court yesterday.
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The court list showed Cody Joseph James, 20, was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm, assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed/in company, deprivation of liberty and torture.
His co-accused, Kerrod Ross Herapath, 19, was charged with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed/in company, common assault, dangerous operation of a vehicle, deprivation of liberty, torture, four counts of distributing child exploitation material and one count of possessing child exploitation material.
A Queensland Police media statement released last month said on August 25 the men assaulted two boys on a dirt road off the Diamantina Development Road in Mount Isa.
The statement said the boys received non-life threatening injuries and were taken to Mount Isa Hospital for treatment.
In court yesterday, defence lawyer Anderson Telford, for James and acting on behalf of lawyer Warren Hunter for Herapath, requested an adjournment to November 5 for mention.
Mr Telford also asked for a change to bail conditions prohibiting the men from seeing each other and requesting they report to police each day.
He said Herapath and James were both mine workers in Mount Isa.
Mr Telford said before the incident the men were living together at Herapath's father's property on Kokoda Road.
He said James was forced to seek alternative accommodation because of the bail conditions and was now paying double the rent he'd previously paid.
James' car had been stolen and "written off" during the incident and was uninsured, he said.
Mr Telford said James was still paying off the destroyed $40,000 car, causing "undue financial pressure".
He said both men worked on a shift-work basis at the mines and had to leave work to report to police.
He applied to the court for a deletion of the reporting conditions and the condition that the men had no contact.
"They were mates before... they are mates still," Mr Telford said.
"That is a significant burden both financial and emotional I suppose for Mr James and Mr Herapath to carry.
"Neither of my clients are a flight risk.
"Mr Herapath has no criminal history and Mr James has limited criminal history."
Civilian prosecutor Mark Boreham, who opposed the bail amendment, said Magistrate Rod Madsen had granted bail on the condition that the men had no contact.
"This is not... the case that when these defendants were given bail that his honour Magistrate Madsen put the condition on without a lot of thought.
"Certainly there's footage taken on at least one defendant's phone of the incident.
"The incident itself is quite protracted and quite violent.
"The only reason he's got a $40,000 car that's damaged and written off... is because he rammed the juveniles off the road."
Magistrate Richard Lehmann said he would not make changes to Herapath's bail conditions but granted a change to the reporting and contact conditions for James.
