Colin James Ambrym with ‘well above average risk’ of sex offending allowed to live in Riverina
A violent sex offender placed on the Child Protection Register and who refused to participate in rehabilitation programs has been granted approval to live in the Riverina.
The Wagga News
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A man who sexually assaulted a teenage girl in her own home then masturbated in front of another girl has been allowed to live in the Riverina after being released from jail.
Albury’s Colin James Ambrym, 35, was released last Thursday after serving jail terms for separate offences against the two girls.
He began his sentence of five years and six months for aggravated break and enter and commit aggravated sexual assault in October 2014.
Court documents state in 2014, Ambrym, who was on bail for an affray charge at the time, entered the victim’s Albury home through a back door.
When he saw the teen, he put his hand over her mouth and said he would not rape or harm her but that he was going to tie her up.
He then took her to a bathroom where she stripped down to her underwear before he sexually assaulted her. Ambrym fled the scene when the victim’s father came home.
He was released on parole in April 2018 and placed on the Child Protection Register.
In February 2019, he was also convicted of committing an act of indecency and intimidation after masturbating in front of a 16-year-old girl on a bus.
He was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and was eligible for parole in July 2019.
However, he signed two letters saying he did not want to be released until April 2 this year, serving the full length of the jail term for the 2014 offence, on the basis that he would like to live in a Murray region town.
Prior to his release, the state government applied for an extended supervision order based on a psychological risk assessment report that found Ambrym as posing a “well above average risk” of future sexual offending.
“He has also been assessed as posing a moderate-high risk of future general offending,” the report’s author Rochelle Pateman states.
The report by Ms Pateman, acting senior psychologist at Corrective Services’ Serious Offenders Assessment Unit, also states Ambrym attended a sex offender program before being released on parole in 2018.
However, he refused to participate after being taken into custody again.
Four days after a Supreme Court hearing on March 26, Justice Allan Robert Hulme ordered interim supervision to apply on April 2-30 to allow psychiatric and/or psychological examinations of Ambrym.
As part of the order, numerous conditions have also been imposed on Ambrym with the location of where he lived the only condition that Justice Hulme modified.
Ambrym’s legal representative said he should be able to live in the Riverina because it was an area “where he is welcomed and supported and feels that way”.
The court heard if he did not have approved accommodation in this area, he may have to live farther away, perhaps in Sydney, and this would increase the risk that “things may go awry as they had in the past”.
Justice Hulme agreed, saying it was difficult because the state’s proposal did not identify where he should live.
Other conditions imposed on Ambrym include prohibition from approaching or contacting children, electronic monitoring and provision of any information about his financial affairs.
Ambrym is also required to notify his supervisor if he stops taking prescribed medication.
The psychiatric results will be given to the court at a date yet to be fixed.