Woorabinda community ready to welcome notorious sex offender Arthur James Murdock

A NOTORIOUS serial rapist, who was held for years in a prison cage, wants parole so he can live in a central Queensland Aboriginal community that says it will welcome him.

Arthur James Murdock - convicted serial rapist - 35/N/7719/12 file pic jun 1988. crime qld rape assault headshot cage prisons prisoners Stuart Creek T'Ville

A NOTORIOUS serial rapist, who was held for years in a prison cage, wants parole so he can live in a central Queensland Aboriginal community that says it will welcome him.

Arthur James Murdock, 79, who has spent most of his life in jail for rape, attempted rape and other violent offences, has been serving a life sentence since 1978.

The community of Woorabinda, 175km southwest of Rockhampton, with a population of almost 1000, has agreed to allow Murdock to live in an aged care facility.

2007: Murdock placement uproar

Murdock’s barrister Dan O’Gorman said in court documents that Woorabinda Mayor Terrence Munns was convinced there was “overwhelming support’’ for him to live in the community if paroled.

But the Queensland Parole Board, which is considering releasing Murdock, who is in Capricornia Correctional Centre, says the Woorabinda accommodation is unsuitable.

Murdock has applied to the Supreme Court for a judicial review of that decision.

In 1960, Murdock was sentenced to 10 years for rape and attempted rape of women in north Queensland. Within weeks of his release in 1977 he raped another woman.

His 14-year prison sentence was increased to life behind bars in 1978, after an appeal.

A court was told in his early years in jail Murdock was responsible for violent acts on prison staff and officers and was kept in a cage for many years in Brisbane and Townsville prisons.

In 1999 a psychiatrist described him as “an aggressive sexual psychopath’’.

Earlier psychological and psychiatric reports called him “crafty and manipulative’’, with poor control of sexual and aggressive impulses.

There was outrage in 2002 when Murdock was allowed to stroll through Rockhampton’s city mall unrestrained, under a leave of absence program that was then cancelled.

In 2007 Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council controversially gave approval for Murdock to live in the community in an aged care hostel, opposite a school. He did not get parole.

Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council held a public meeting in April to discuss Murdock living in a seven bed mixed sex aged care home if he was paroled, according to court documents.

Mayor Munns told the parole board despite initial resistance from a small number at the meeting, no one opposed it and the council voted unanimously in favour of it.