Fiona Barbieri, Berwyn Rees, Bojan Vulic among most notorious parolees
They have committed some of the most heinous crimes in NSW but have since been released from prison. Here we reveal some of the country’s most notorious parolees.
The South Coast News
Don't miss out on the headlines from The South Coast News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They have committed some of Australia’s most heinous crimes, served their time and now they’re walking the streets.
See our list of some of the most notorious criminals released on parole.
JAMIE JOHN CURTIS
Jamie John Curtis was paroled in January after being sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years for the abduction, repeated assault and torture of a young couple that culminated in the man’s murder.
The couple, Tameka Ridgeway, 17, and Dean Allie, 22, endured 12 hours of horror in Hobart in 1986 before Mr Allie was stabbed repeatedly by Curtis and a teenage accomplice at a sheep property in Gretna.
Curtis, now aged in his 60s, was first released in 2018 on strict conditions, and within weeks was back behind bars after he breached the conditions of his parole by using false names to access online dating sites.
He again applied for parole again in September 2019 but was denied freedom due to a lack of suitable accommodation and the board’s view he needed to improve his behaviour.
Curtis has been assessed as requiring a very high level of supervision and management of his risk in the community, and became the first person to be paroled in Tasmania forced to wear an electronic monitoring anklet.
For more on this story click here.
REGINALD ARTHURELL
Serial killer Reginald Kenneth Arthurell was paroled in October last year after being sentenced to 24 years behind bars in 1997.
Now aged in his 70s and identifying as transgender, Arthurell, who now goes by the name Regina, was on parole for manslaughter when he bludgeoned to death his 54-year-old fiance Venet Mulhall.
She had started writing to Arthurell while he was in jail in Darwin, and visited him behind bars in Sydney.
In February 1995, she was found beaten to death at her home in Coonabarabran after she refused to give Arthurell her car.
Charged with her murder, Arthurell tried again to get off with manslaughter but this time the prosecution refused and a jury convicted him of murder.
Arthurell must wear an electronic bracelet and submit to a number of other conditions, including refraining from drugs and alcohol.
He is also banned from going anywhere near his victims’ families.
For more on this story click here.
FIONA BARBIERI
Fiona Barbieri was granted bail in September last year after being involved in the stabbing death of NSW Police officer Detective Bryson Anderson outside her home in Oakville, in Sydney’s northwest, in 2012.
Barbieri barricaded herself inside her home while armed with swords, a barbed wire garrotte, a gas bottle flamethrower and Molotov cocktails.
Barbieri was sentenced to 10 years with a non-parole period of six for manslaughter.
She was originally charged with murder but was found to have a substantial impairment due to abnormality of mind.
For more on this story click here.
BOJAN VULIC
Graduate teacher Bojan Vulic was 24 when he murdered his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend Vlatka Mrmos after the couple split in 2004.
He stabbed her more than 40 times as she sat in the passenger seat of her car in Brisbane’s south.
At the time of her death she was scared of Vulic and told her family he was controlling, only allowing her to leave her home when he said and even dictating when she shaved her legs.
During his trial, the jury heard from witnesses who saw Vulic stabbing his victim multiple times after their car crashed before he sped off the wrong way up an off-ramp.
Vulic was released from Maryborough Correctional Centre on parole in 2014.
During his trial, the jury heard from witnesses who saw Vulic stabbing his victim multiple times after their car crashed before he sped off the wrong way up an off-ramp.
For more on this story click here.
BERWYN REES
Triple murderer Berwyn Rees was released from Sydney‘s Silverwater prison in 2019 after almost four decades behind bars.
The 70-year-old was sentenced to life in prison for murdering gun shop owner Ray James and customer Christopher Greenfield in Bondi Junction during a robbery in 1977 and the killing of NSW police sergeant Keith Hayden in 1980.
Rees is under strict parole conditions for the rest of his life, and must wear an electronic monitoring device, and must not contact his victim’s families.
He was refused parole as many as 10 times until his release after spending 38 years behind bars.
Rees is now one of the most heavily monitored parolees in NSW.
For more on this story click here.
WE ARE STILL HERE FOR YOU
For more local news you can trust go to www.thesouthcoastnews.com.au
Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/thesthcoastnews and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thesouthcoastnews/
You can also get your news delivered straight into your inbox by subscribing to our online newsletter here. Link is here: https://www.newsletters.news.com.au/dailytelegraph
Exhibition exposes Taliban’s war on women’s education
A powerful exhibition showcasing how Afghan girls and women must risk their lives in order to receive an education in a Taliban ruled nation is set to open in a South Coast gallery.
Read more
Hospo worker’s alleged prison calls to stabbed lover
A young hospitality worker accused of stabbing her lover during a three-hour dispute allegedly tried to stop him from testifying by making more than 50 calls from behind bars.
Read more