QLD: Rape victim to take legal action against government

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-1999
QLD: Rape victim to take legal action against government

BRISBANE, April 9 AAP - The victim of a vicious sexual assault by a convicted rapist on
unsupervised day leave from jail is planning legal action against the Queensland government
and the Corrective Services Commission.

The woman, known only as "Michelle", a 45-year-old mother of two, was attacked in her home
in May 1997 by Russell James Watcho, then aged 28.

Michelle's solicitor, Tony Bailey, said the attack occurred when Watcho, who had been
sentenced in 1992 to 10 years for assaulting and raping a woman, was on unsupervised leave to
travel alone to a drug counselling centre in Brisbane.

He had been issued with a rail voucher for a return trip from Wacol, west of Brisbane, to
the city's Roma Street station and told to return to the jail by 4pm.

But instead of returning, he bashed, raped and robbed two women in their own homes -
Michelle and a 58-year-old woman.

Watcho pleaded guilty to the attacks and was given a life sentence for both convictions,
with a recommendation he never be released.

Mr Bailey said the attacks would not have taken place if Watcho had never been set free on
day release.

"You would have to wonder why it is that the interests of a rapist are put above those of a
a member of the community," he told AAP.

Mr Bailey said his client was still traumatised by the event and was unlikely to recover
from it.

"It's time for some commonsense thinking," Mr Bailey said.

Vicious assaults by prisoners on day release were becoming frequent enough to warrant a
tightening in Queensland Corrective Services Commission practices and regulations, he said.

"I think it's often enough to be of concern," Mr Bailey said.

He said he would file a writ in the Brisbane Supreme Court "within the next few weeks" but
gave no further details.

A spokesman for Corrective Services Minister Tom Barton said Michelle was entitled to take
legal action and the matter would be decided in court.

AAP rad/sd/kr

KEYWORD: MICHELLE

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