Kimberly Jane McLeod sentenced after escaping Numinbah Correctional Centre

A woman who sparked a regionwide manhunt after breaking out of an isolated jail has revealed the reasons behind her desperate escape. Find out what happened.

A woman who sparked a regionwide manhunt after escaping an isolated Gold Coast jail has claimed she was driven by desperation to visit ill family members.

Kimberly Jane McLeod first broke out of Numinbah Correctional Centre – a low-security facility in the region’s hinterland – on December 7.

Southport Magistrates Court was told on Friday that McLeod fled from the premises on foot before allegedly being picked up in a car.

Prosecutor Dan Cuschieri said corrective services officers realised the 29-year-old had escaped when they saw she was not locked in her room during a routine check.

Kimberly McLeod, who escaped from the Numinbah Correctional Centre.

Police launched a massive search effort to track down McLeod, who was on the run for three days before being found at a Labrador home.

The court was told McLeod was serving five months’ jail at the Numinbah facility after being convicted of evading police and other offences.

McLeod appeared in court via videolink from a higher-security women’s jail, but had several supporters in the courtroom gallery.

Defence lawyer Michael Gatenby said his client had faced a difficult start in life, leaving home at 15 to escape domestic violence and falling pregnant to an abusive partner at 17.

He said McLeod was extremely remorseful and accepted responsibility for her actions.

“She finds out her grandmother is doing particularly poorly, (as) she suffers from bad dementia, and finds out her brother has attempted suicide and he’s been taken to the intensive care unit,” Mr Gatenby said.

“She goes to be of some support to her mother at her grandma’s house, and that’s really the basis on which she leaves the (jail).

Facilities at Numinbah Correctional Centre. Picture Mike Batterham

“She intended to return to the prison farm once her brother had been cleared or made it through.”

Magistrate Michelle Dooley told McLeod she needed to take this as an opportunity to change for the better.

“Your time could be much better spent … looking into spending time with your daughter, dealing with drug issues, getting further education with respect to domestic violence,” Magistrate Dooley said.

“I don’t know whose idea it was to leave custody, but you have to think very carefully about your own future and these decisions that will obviously affect it.”

McLeod pleaded guilty to one count of escape by persons in lawful custody.

She was sentenced to two months’ jail, wholly suspended for 12 months.

Originally published as Kimberly Jane McLeod sentenced after escaping Numinbah Correctional Centre