Victoria’s Victims of Crime Commissioner has questioned whether something is wrong with the justice system after yet another man went missing from a notorious sex offenders facility in Ararat.
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The 41-year-old fled on Thursday night from Corella Place, nicknamed Village of the Damned, which holds convicted sex offenders who have done jail time but still pose a risk to the wider public.
A manhunt kicked off after the alarm was raised about 6.30pm, with police warning the public to not approach the man, whose identity has been suppressed by a court order. He was caught and remanded in custody about 10.30am on Friday near Beaufort.
In response, respected Victims of Crime Commissioner Greg Davies said both victims and the wider public should have the right to feel safe when offenders are incarcerated in facilities such as Corella Place.
“When someone can walk away from a facility at will, when it’s clearly been determined they pose too much of a risk to be at large … then something’s wrong with the system,” he said.
This incident was not the first of its kind at Corella Place in recent years.
A 24-year-old man allegedly tore off his GPS monitoring bracelet and spent almost 12 hours on the run before being caught by police near Beaufort last year.
In the aftermath Victoria Police decided to host a forum in Ararat where more than 50 residents attended, raising safety concerns over the facility.
There have been at least seven cases of abscondment from the centre since 2010 and the majority of respondents to a Fairfax Media poll thought Corella Place security should be beefed up.