Robert Fardon: Vigilantes warned to back off from convicted criminal

Vigilantes are being warned they will be prosecuted if serial rapist Robert Fardon is harassed on the streets like notorious criminal Dennis Ferguson.

VIGILANTES are being warned they will be prosecuted if serial rapist Robert Fardon is harassed on the streets like notorious criminal Dennis Ferguson.

Civil Liberties Council vice-president Terry O’Gorman said the media gag order made last week for seven days by the Supreme Court was to allow Fardon to be housed in the community without attracting vigilante activity.

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He said the Civil Liberties Council would “closely watch vigilante and associated media attention on Fardon and will immediately refer any potential contempt action” to the Attorney-General for prosecution.

Convicted rapist Robert John Fardon

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“The media need to behave responsibly and not reveal Robert Fardon’s address or whereabouts, otherwise Queensland will have a repeat of the Dennis Ferguson vigilante scenario of 2005 where Ferguson was driven out of Queensland towns and suburbs on his release from jail,” he said.

A lifelong fraudster and serial sex offender, notorious for abducting two boys and a girl in Sydney in 1987, Ferguson relocated to different towns in Queensland and NSW after his release in 2004.

Commissioner Ian Stewart. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

He was confronted with protests, death threats, rock-throwing and discovered a molotov cocktail by his apartment.

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Ferguson died in late 2012, having discontinued his diabetes medication, before appearing in court for allegedly breaching restraining orders by performing charity collector work.

Mr O’Gorman yesterday referred to a Court of Appeal finding on Fardon in 2006 in which judges first commented about public scrutiny on Fardon’s pending release.

The Court of Appeal noted “it is to be hoped that our community is responsible enough to recognise these considerations and not make it more difficult for the respondent to rehabilitate himself”.

Mr O’Gorman praised Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, saying he had shown “much-needed leadership on the Fardon issue”.

Robert Fardon being transported to the watch house in 2013. Pic Darren England.

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Commissioner Stewart told reporters on Wednesday: “The system that we run as a State is one that is designed to assist people to make better decisions, to become members of our society that don’t offend — and that’s what is occurring in this case.”

Mr O’Gorman said the hype about Fardon ignored that police could apply for a further order against him including GPS tracking, if they believed he was displaying “concerning conduct” as well as “precursor or preparatory behaviours” that could lead to offences against children.

Commissioner Stewart has declined to say how Fardon will interact with police but he must report to them, advise of any contact with children or plans for travel.

A police source told the Bulletin: “There is no monitoring of him. There’s nothing at all. You will have agencies like Social Security involved with him.

“They (police) were monitoring him but it was costing a mountain of money. He’s a convicted paedophile, he’s still a hardened criminal who has spent a wealth of time in prison. He’s now a free-range rooster.”

The Bulletin yesterday revealed Fardon has been given a Go Card to travel on the train, a driver’s licence and sessions at a male “day spa” to “meet his sexual needs”.

Labor’s refusal in September last year to debate an urgency Bill from the LNP meant any chance to move Fardon off the streets and have a GPS tracker placed on him was lost.