WebMail
My BigPond
A child rapist serving an extended supervision order outside a Melbourne prison has absconded and can't be tracked with his ankle bracelet.
The Herald Sun newspaper reported on Friday the pedophile, who cannot be identified because of a suppression order issued by a County Court judge, was required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet but it was not equipped with GPS technology because of privacy concerns.
A Victoria Police spokesman told AAP overnight he was unable to comment on the report.
The man had served a lengthy jail term for child sex offences and had been released last year on an extended supervision order that allowed him to live in a compound just outside the walls of the Ararat jail, about 200km west of Melbourne.
He lived with 23 other serious sex offenders in secrecy in the community, known as Corella House.
The offender allegedly left the compound about 1.50am (AEDT) on Wednesday.
The bracelet alerted authorities the man had left the area but police told the newspaper there was no GPS tracking to trace the man's movements.
Crime Victims' Support Association president Noel McNamara said the privacy of criminals seemed more important than protecting children.
'You can't have these types of offenders wandering around the countryside and us not being allowed to name them,' Mr McNamara said.
'You just can't have a secret society with the criminals having all the rights and the victims - and future victims - not knowing where these people are going.'
A senior Victorian policeman last year called for satellite tracking of the state's worst sex offenders.
'I think 21st century policing has to be open to opportunities given to us by technology, just as criminals are,' Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones told the Herald Sun at the time.
