Owen Van Duren: former international fugitive, charged over stolen piglets, wants out of jail
Former international fugitive Owen Van Duren, who once fled the law by sailing a luxury yacht halfway around the world, says he wants out of jail.
Canberra Star
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A former international fugitive facing charges he stole four piglets from a Canberra petting zoo says he wants to get out of jail before he faces court again in March next year.
Owen Van Duren, 39, appeared briefly by video link in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday from Canberra’s jail, the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
A chatty Van Duren said to Magistrate Margaret Hunter: “good morning, your honour, and God bless every one in court there today”.
Van Duren has been behind bars since September, when he was arrested twice, first in relation to the discovery of four stolen piglets at a Deakin property and later, over the discovery of a cache of high powered weapons, including bomb-making supplies, sniper scopes, night vision equipment, firearms suppressors.
Van Duren has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies any of the weapons were his.
In court on Monday, Ms Hunter said the earliest court date available for Van Duren to face a hearing was in March 2021.
The court heard police are yet to provide Van Duren’s lawyers with the results of forensic testing, and that the hearing would involve as many as 11 witnesses giving evidence.
Van Duren, when told he would have to wait another five months in jail until his hearing, an agitated Van Duren said: “And I’ll be released until then?”
Ms Hunter said he would have to apply for bail if he wanted to get out of jail
“This is just a list, today, to get a hearing (date),” Ms Hunter said.
Ms Hunter has previously flagged concerns that Van Duren is “too dangerous” to be granted bail, after reading a police report about his escape from justice in Thailand, where he was in court on an allegation he seriously assaulted an airline hostess.
Van Duren, with the help of his brother, a former special forces soldier, returned to Australia in a luxury catamaran they rented near Phuket.
