Sex predator Gavin Shaun Schuster’s release unreasonable and plainly unjust, top prosecutor says

EXCLUSIVE: Find out how the Director of Public Prosecutions says one of the state’s most senior judges erred in ordering the release of notorious child sex predator Gavin Schuster.

Gavin Shaun Schuster. Art: Tim Ide.

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• Parole Board calls for 35 strict conditions on Schuster’s release
• Local MP says Kilburn must not be dumping ground for paedophiles
• Offends ‘when stressed’: Schuster’s vile criminal history

CHILD sex predator Gavin Shaun Schuster is being released because a senior judge placed unreasonable and plainly unjust emphasis on his rehabilitation, the state’s top prosecutor says.

The Advertiser can exclusively reveal details of Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber SC’s challenge to Schuster’s release, ordered by the Supreme Court last month.

In appeal documents released by the court today, Mr Kimber says Schuster must not be allowed to move from custody to a Kilburn facility just hundreds of metres from two playgrounds.

He says recently-retired Justice John Sulan improperly prioritised Schuster’s chances of rehabilitation over his legislated duty to ensure the safety of the public.

Mr Kimber says Justice Sulan made four errors when deciding Schuster’s fate, including a failure to take all of the evidence in the case into account.

“The learned judge’s order that Schuster be released on licence was unreasonable or plainly unjust,” he says.

“(The order) is such that it can be inferred that the learned judge failed to properly exercise the discretion (to release Schuster).”

Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber, SC.

Since the age of 12, Schuster has befriended children, both boys and girls, and then sexually abused them when he feels “frustrated” with daily life.

Now 40, he has been indefinitely detained as an uncontrollable sex predator since 2000 save for a short period in 2008, when he was released and immediately reoffended.

The court heard Schuster had told a fellow inmate he intended to reoffend upon release and discussed the “easiest” suburbs in which to commit an undetected crime.

Doctors, however, insisted he must be released to avoid institutionalisation, prompting Justice Sulan to concede Schuster will “always” be a risk but “nothing is perfect in this world”.

Schuster’s case has prompted outrage and petitions by Kilburn residents and a call from Federal MP Kate Ellis for the State Government to intervene.

Attorney-General John Rau declined to do so, despite sharing her concerns, saying the matter would be handled by Mr Kimber.

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Sulan. Picture: Roger Wyman.

In his challenge, Mr Kimber says Justice Sulan erred by failing to take into account whether Schuster “was unwilling or incapable to control his sexual instincts”.

He says he also failed to consider “the nature and character of the risk posed” by Schuster and the “implications and consequences flowing” from his stated desire to reoffend.

Mr Kimber says Justice Sulan failed to observe the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act (1988), which requires primary consideration be given to community safety.

“The learned judge erred in the exercise of his discretion by considering that, in determining whether there should be a release on licence, the emphasis is on rehabilitation of the applicant,” he says.

Mr Kimber’s challenge will be heard by the Full Court of the Court of Criminal Appeal next week.

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