Sex offenders will wear electronic trackers as sweeping reforms tighten parole system

Rapists, paedophiles and serious sex offenders will be made to wear electronic monitors as part of new measures to tighten parole restrictions following two weeks of campaigning by The Daily Telegraph.

• David Elliot threatens parole authority with legal action
• Sampieri should have been charged before alleged attack

Paedophiles, rapists and all other serious sex offenders will have to wear an electronic tracker under a range of new measures that will significantly tighten the state’s parole system.

The reforms include a new “one-strike” policy for all sex or violent offenders meaning any breach of their parole conditions will be automatically reported to the State Parole Authority which has the power to throw them back behind bars.

Previously, reporting a criminal’s parole breach to the SPA was left to the discretion of their supervising parole officer.

Corrections Minister David Elliott reviewed Anthony Sampieri’s parole conditions after the alleged sex attack of a young girl in Kogarah. Picture: Joel Carrett

The tough reforms have come in the wake of two weeks of campaigning by The Daily Telegraph that exposed serious flaws in the system which allowed sex offender Anthony Sampieri to be on parole and allegedly sexually assault a 7-year-old girl at knifepoint for 30 minutes in the bathroom of a Kogarah dance studio on November 15.

There are 64 sex offenders on parole in NSW currently being electronically monitored. The new rule for around the clock electronic monitoring will apply to sex offenders defined by the Crimes Act as “serious”, which is for offences that are punishable by seven year jail terms such as rapists and paedophiles, even if the offender is only sentenced to two or three years.

It’s understood the majority of the 493 sex offenders currently on parole would fall under this category and it would have included Sampieri.

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Sampieri was found in the bathroom of a Kogarah dance studio after an alleged sex attack of a 7-year-old girl. Picture: Hollie Adams

The dance studio toilet where young girl was allegedly attacked.

The changes are not retrospective but will be in place from today.

Corrections Minister David Elliott conducted a review of the parole conditions concerning Sampieri in the wake of horrific attack in Kogarah which has led to the sweeping changes.

“Any serious sex offender will have their movements very closely monitored by NSW Corrective Services’ security and intelligence branches. This is what the community expects and deserves,” Mr Elliott said.

The parole breaches that will now be mandatorily reported to SPA will not include “minor administrative breaches” such as an offender running late to an appointment.

Another change among the reforms is that all sex offender parole reports submitted to the SPA will be vetted by executive staff in Corrective Services for “better consistency, improved risk-management controls and to ensure community and victims’ expectations are appropriately considered”.

Corrective Services and NSW Police will also work to identify how to improve their intelligence sharing and communication when monitoring offenders on parole.

The Berejiklian government has been under significant pressure to address the flaws in the parole system that were exposed by The Daily Telegraph including that Sampieri was on parole at the time of the alleged rape of the girl and remained in the community prior to this despite admitting to his parole officer that he’d used ice.

The Daily Telegraph also revealed that police were aware Sampieri made lewd phone calls prior to the Kogarah attack but this information wasn’t passed on to his parole officers.

Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin said: “These changes enhance and strengthen our management of these offenders, making clear that community protection is our absolute priority.”