Australian criminals who have been locked up overseas
From a mass shooter, drug smugglers, rapists and more, these are the stories of Australians currently behind bars in some of the world’s most heinous prisons.
NSW
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Far away from our own justice system, several Aussies have been put behind bars overseas after being detained for a variety of reasons.
From a mass shooting to drug smuggling, these are their stories.
BRENTON TARRANT
SENTENCE: Life in prison without parole
PRISON: Christchurch Men’s Prison
CONVICTIONS: Murder, attempted murder and terrorism
He’s responsible for the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history and was given the most severe punishment the nation has ever seen because of it – mosque mass murderer Brenton Tarrant.
Born in Grafton in 1990, Tarrant was 26 when he left for New Zealand in 2017.
Two years after his arrival, he would go on to commit the worst mass shooting New Zealand had ever seen, killing 51 people and injuring 35.
He attacked the Al Noor Mosque and was on his way to attack another mosque in Ashburton before he was arrested in Christchurch in March 2019.
Described as a white supremacist, he was convicted of 51 murders, 40 attempted murders and engaging in a terrorist act.
He was later sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, which was the first such sentence in New Zealand, with the presiding judge Cameron Mander stating he will never be set free.
“Your crimes are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die, it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment,” the judge said.
Sentencing began on 24 August 2020 before Judge Mander at the Christchurch High Court, which was televised.
KARM GILESPIE
SENTENCE: Death
PRISON: Guangzhou Prison
CHARGE: Drug smuggling
Aussie Karm Gilespie, 59, was set to fly back to Sydney on New Year’s Eve in 2013 but never boarded his plane at Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport.
Unable to be reached or heard from, his friends and family were puzzled at his disappearance.
Long-time friend Roger James Hamilton said he assumed the 59-year old had started a new life overseas.
“We spent a few years trying to find out how he could disappear so suddenly and so entirely, after that, we resigned ourselves to the idea that he had left because he wanted to start a new life,” Mr Hamilton said.
However, Six years on from his disappearance, Chinese police released a statement that revealed Gillespie was in jail and had been slapped with a death sentence for attempting to smuggle 7.6kg of methamphetamine out of the country.
This was the first most had heard of Gillespie’s situation, even several lawyers previously involved in defending Australians on drugs charges in Guangzhou told the ABC they were completely unaware of Mr Gilespie’s case.
Gilespie was a former actor turned investor, motivational speaker and business coach, who was said by friends to be an upstanding citizen.
Details on the case are scarce but it is reported he pleaded not guilty in 2014, but the Guangzhou Intermediate Court released a statement on its website that on June 10 2020, Gilespie had been sentenced to death for drug smuggling following a two-day trial.
PETER GERARD SCULLY
SENTENCE: Life in prison and 129 years.
PRISON: Cagayan de Oro city jail, Philippines
CONVICTION: Human trafficking, rape, murder
Peter Gerard Scully is one of Australia’s most monstrous criminals abroad or at home.
His crimes were deemed so severe that some prosecutors supported the reintroduction of the death penalty as punishment for Scully, despite the death penalty in The Philippines being abolished in 2006.
Born in Melbourne in 1963, he fled to the Philippines to allegedly escape fraud charges in 2011 – then started one of the most horrific paedophile rings in The Philippines’ history.
Scully was arrested in 2015 in Malaybalay after two victims, aged 10 and 11, escaped from Scully and reported their ordeal to authorities.
He had so many charges against him (75 in total) they were split into two batches.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the first set on June 13, 2018, then sentenced to the extra 129-year sentence for the second trial in November 2022.
He was convicted on charges that included trafficking, child pornography, child abuse, rape and is currently serving his time in Cagayan de Oro city jail.
SUSAN DALZIEL
SENTENCE: 28 years
PRISON: Mauritius
CHARGE: Smuggling heroin
Susan Dalziel was a 52-year-old Australian schoolteacher who got mixed up in the wrong class when she was caught smuggling heroin worth $1.3 million into Mauritius in 2005.
Carrying nearly 4kg of heroin in her luggage, she was arrested upon arrival from Nairobi in November 2005.
She claimed to authorities she was used as a decoy to protect the real smugglers.
Dalziel pleaded not guilty to drug peddling but was found guilty of trafficking and received a 28-year sentence. She still maintains she was a pawn for big time smugglers.
She will be 80-years old when she is released
ROBERT FIDDES ELLIS
SENTENCE: 15 years
PRISON: Kerobokan Prison
CONVICTION: Sexual abuse of at least 11 young girls
Robert Fiddes Ellis has been described as one of Bali’s worst ever child sex offenders.
The 69-year-old, originally from Beechworth in Victoria, sexually abused 11 girls aged under 18 between 2014 and 2015.
He was found guilty of persuading children to commit an indecent act, but Ellis maintains he had done nothing wrong as he offered cash in return for sexual acts.
In 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years jail. He’s housed in Kerobokan Prison, which is notoriously known for being one of the toughest prisons on earth, especially for sex offenders.
The prison has been labelled a living hell and became famous for being the jail that Schapelle Corby spent nine years in.
Ellis will be eligible to leave Kerobokan in 2031 and is currently serving the heaviest jail term ever imposed on a foreign paedophile in Bali.
He will be 85-years old when he is released.
JAKE MASTROIANNI
SENTENCE: Double life sentence
PRISON: Bang Kwan prison
Jake Mastroianni was the nightclub king that went from behind the DJ decks to behind bars.
The 33-year-old formally known as DJ Badmouth was born in Melbourne, but is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in a Thai prison.
In August 2014 the then 26-year-old Mastroianni was arrested at the Thai seaside resort of Pattaya, where he worked as a DJ at the Sapphire Club, along with 28-year-old Briton Lance Whitmore.
Both men were detained for possession of ecstasy pills and were then charged with acting as a criminal organisation.
Whitmore was found with 200 pills, and a further search of Mastroianni’s girlfriend’s house would uncover an extra 61 ecstasy pills.
Mastroianni pleaded not guilty to all charges but was slapped with two life sentences. Whitmore pleaded guilty and was handed a 50-year sentence.
The Australian DJ will allegedly spend the rest of his life inbRENBangkwan prison which is infamous for being one of the world’s harshest prisons, it has been nicknamed ‘Big Tiger’ by Thai people because it would eat alive whoever was inside.
He is still seeking to be transferred to an Australian jail.
DUSTIN LINKLATER
SENTENCE: Seven years
PRISON: Banyuwangi Prison
CONVICTION: Sexually abusing a 14-year-old
Former Australian restaurant worker Dustin Linklater served a seven-year jail sentence in East Java Indonesia.
The 44-year-old Darwin resident was allegedly a frequent visitor to Bali and Java and had begun renting a house in the Javanese village of Bubuk in February 2019.
By August 2019 Linklater allegedly paid a 14-year-old boy $11 to abuse him orally up to five times after he gave him a mobile phone containing a pornographic video and asked him to watch it.
But In 2020 Linklater was found guilty of sexually abusing the 14-year-old boy after evidence of mobile phones, 30 condoms, lubricant oil, strong drugs, bedsheets and pillows was found.
Linklater was sentenced to seven years jail but faced a maximum penalty of 15 years and will be 51-years old when he is released.
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