Predator Colin Charles Humphrys’ suburb published after The Advertiser opposed court suppression order
A SERIAL sex predator will be released on May 14 unless prosecutors appeal — but the public would not know where he will live if not for The Advertiser taking him on in court.
Law and Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law and Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Don’t say where I am: Sex predator wants release address kept secret
- Sex predator Colin Charles Humphrys released to Bowden-Brompton
- 10-day deadline for DPP to challenge sex predator’s release
- Analysis: Release shows failings of both system and our approach
- We’re for you: Our commitment to advocate for our readers
HAVING spent three decades breaking the law – and destroying innocent lives in the process – kidnapper and sex predator Colin Charles Humphrys wanted the law to do him a favour.
He asked the Supreme Court for more than an end to his latest jail term, and even more than the non-parole period he was denied for being an “uncontrollable” danger.
Humphrys, 66, did not want to just leave prison – he wanted to live in secrecy, right in the middle of suburbia, with the South Australian public clueless as to his whereabouts.
His quest for residential anonymity this week attracted the most unlikely of allies.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which had put Humphrys behind bars in the first place, said it would “not oppose” his bid for a suppression order.
Humphrys would likely have swapped prison greens for casual wear, and guards for GPS trackers, with no one the wiser – had the court not heard The Advertiser’s objection.
LET ME OUT
Humphrys’ five-state, 30-year litany of sin ended in 2009, when he was jailed for 10 years without a non-parole period.
State law allows criminals to seek supervised release when doctors feel they have gained some measure of control – or are at risk of becoming institutionalised. Humphrys filed his release bid in May 2014, kicking off a long process of risk assessment that was, in the words of Justice Trish Kelly, “finely balanced”.
Doctors said Humphrys remained unwilling to control himself and still a danger, but wagered his overwhelming desire for freedom was motivation enough to walk the straight and narrow.
Police and prison authorities, though worried about resourcing, nonetheless comm-itted to monitoring for and responding to any breaches.
In contrast, Parole Board chair Frances Nelson QC refused to even countenance the idea of Humphrys living safely in the community.
“He is quite a manipulative, intelligent man ... we’re very familiar with his modus operandi,” she warned.
SECRET STATE
As he sought release to Bowden-Brompton, Humphrys also pursued privacy using the controversial secrecy provisions of the Evidence Act (1929). In written submissions, his counsel argued “vigilante action and general discord” would inevitably follow any public revelation of his intended address.
That, they claimed, amounted to “a serious threat to the proper administration of justice” and the possibility all “attempts to mitigate the risk of reoffending” would be “undermined”.
They said the “harassment” of Humphrys’ fellow kidnapper and predator, Dennis Ferguson, between 2004 and 2012 should greatly concern the court.
In response, prosecutors noted that Humphrys would set a legal precedent for other sex offenders should he succeed. None of the predators previously released in SA, NSW or Queensland had been granted a secret address.
Victorian courts preferred blanket suppression orders, but one judge refused an offender’s secret address request due to his tendency “to abscond and reoffend”.
Though Humphrys was poised to create a platform for future criminals, prosecutors nonetheless declined to stand in his way.
They concluded a secrecy order could be justified “on balance” as publication “may have the effect of undermining the court’s order” for supervised release.
MEETING OF THE MINDS
Exercising its legal right to oppose suppression orders, The Advertiser’s submission was simple – Humphrys was nothing special.
Court reports always include an offender’s age and suburb of residence, while the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act (2006) makes it illegal to publish a predator’s street address.
“Your Honour is faced with the competing interests of the rehabilitation of the prisoner, the administration of justice and the public’s right to know,” it told Justice Kelly. “All of these interests are best served by there being no departure from the ordinary course of reporting.
“Publication, we would argue, enhances public safety because it allows parents in the area to be watchful and wary.”
Justice Kelly agreed, saying she had “weighed it up anxiously all night”.
“We are actually on the same page ... there is a meeting of the minds about that,” she said.
“It is in the public interest, and it’s in the interests of the effect of monitoring Humphrys, that the community is aware that he’s in the area.
“So if he’s where he should not be, there will be more than the police aware of that.”
Humphrys will be released on May 14, unless prosecutors file a successful appeal.
Home invaders steal, then crash, Mercedes
A luxury Mercedes sedan has been stolen by a man and woman during a violent home invasion at Kurralta Park.
It’s official: Notorious child predator to stay locked up
A notorious serial kidnapper and child predator has finally had his bid for release into the community denied after a two-year legal and political battle.