A violent Sudanese criminal who was jailed for eight years for raping an elderly woman is set to be released from a Tasmanian jail despite being a high risk of reoffending.
Christo Brown, 28, will walk out of Hobart’s Risdon Prison on October 31 after serving his sentence for breaking into a home in Launceston in 2015 and raping the 76-year-old woman in her bed.
He fled to Melbourne immediately after the attack but his DNA was found on his victim’s nightgown, and in 2018 he was extradited to Tasmania to face trial after being jailed for 277 days in Queensland for sexual assault while on bail for the Launceston rape and aggravated burglary charges.
His trial heard that his victim, who prayed for him after the rape and gave him a religious pamphlet titled Our Daily Bread, would suffer from the effects of the attack for the rest of her life.
Brown was also convicted of four counts of assault and an aggravated burglary over a separate 2015 crime, Tasmanian Supreme Court Chief Justice Chris Shanahan KC noted during an application last week for Brown to be declared a high risk offender, The Mercury reported.
He also cited a prison report that found Brown had a “disregard for rules and a tendency to intimidate and make inappropriate advances towards female staff”.
“Mr Brown still presents with many of the risk factors associated with sexual and violent offending, and he is in the above average risk of future sexual offending,” the report stated.
“Therefore Mr Brown will require a high level of intervention and risk management in the community if he is to be released on parole.”
Chief Justice Shanahan determined that a high risk offender order was necessary as Brown posed “an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence”.
The order includes a curfew from 8pm to 6am, electronic monitoring, mandatory counselling, a ban on drugs and alcohol, and a requirement that Brown seek permission to leave Tasmania.
Furious Tasmanians have now started an online petition calling on Immigration Minister Tony Burke to deport Brown in order to protect public safety.
“It is with great urgency and concern for the safety of all women in Tasmania that I call upon Minister of Immigration, Tony Burke, to take decisive action by deporting Christo Brown back to Sudan,” the petition reads.
“We must set an example that violent criminals will not be allowed to remain in our community, especially when there is a credible threat of recidivism.”
Header image: Left, right, Christo Brown.
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