SA government seeks extended supervision order for Frederick Walkuski who kidnapped former lover in infamous 2008 crime

He captured and tormented a woman, convinced he was dying – almost two decades on, he still claims he’s terminal and wants to avoid an extension to his parole.

An infamous kidnapper who trapped his victim in a custom “love nest” is due to finish parole and must be controlled, a court has heard – but his lawyer insists his “days look like they’re numbered”.

Frederick Walkuski – who has, for the past 17 years, claimed he is dying of terminal cancer – faced the Supreme Court on Wednesday, accompanied by a group of supporters.

The state government has asked the court to declare him a high-risk offender, based on his criminal history, and order him subject to extended supervision conditions.

Walkuski, 73, first made headlines in February 2008 when he kidnapped his former lover, then 34, from her car.

Leaving her toddler abandoned in the back seat for SA Police to find, Walkuski led the woman to a waiting car and drove her to an isolated shack 15km west of Swan Reach.

Frederick Walkuski prior to the kidnapping in 2008.

Walkuski in 2015.

There, Walkuski had created a “love nest” filled with the woman’s favourite foods and films on DVD, as well as a wardrobe full of clothes in her size that he had selected.

Walkuski’s plan was for the former couple to spend the rest of his life there – a scheme undone when police found them, he fled and rolled his car in the ensuing chase.

In 2009, District Court Judge Paul Rice jailed Walkuski for 17 years, saying he was motivated by obsession with both the woman and his illness.

Judge Rice said Walkuski was also seeking to escape justice for a rape he had committed in 2001, and to which he had pleaded guilty prior to the kidnapping.

In 2015, Walkuski faced court again – accused, alongside another prisoner, of having masterminded a jailhouse plot to have Judge Rice murdered.

He and the other prisoner were further accused of plotting to murder Judge Rice’s wife, Judge Rosemary Davey, and one of the police officers who arrested him.

The duo were acquitted by a jury following a trial.

In court on Wednesday, Walkuski’s longtime lawyer, Nick Vadasz, asked the government’s application be postponed for two weeks.

“I’m of the view that, in this matter, there could well be a negotiated outcome,” he said.

Justice Adam Kimber remanded Walkuski, under his existing parole conditions, to face court again in August.

Outside court, when asked if he was remorseful for his crimes, Walkuski replied “of course”.

Asked about his health, he said it was “good, standard”.

Mr Vadasz, however, said that was not the case.

“He’s very unwell, he’s (more than) 70 years (old) and, at his advanced age, his days look like they’re numbered,” he said.

“He’s very remorseful.”