Lawyers fail to secure visit to famous NT fugitive Jermaine Austral despite serious charges
A young man who allegedly slipped two military-style police raids over a five-day manhunt has spent nearly two months in prison without any legal consultation, a court has heard.
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A famous Territory fugitive has spent nearly two months locked up in Darwin prison without any legal visits despite facing serious criminal charges, a court has heard.
Jermaine Shane Austral was arrested in October after allegedly slipping past two major police raids in five days, with the 27-year-old finally cornered in a rural Batchelor home after an extensive manhunt.
It was alleged Austral had been on the run after breaking into a property in Johnston with a firearm on October 22.
Police launched two unsuccessful military-style raids in their attempt to catch the 27-year-old, first surrounding a Karama home and then setting up a cordon around a Batchelor property.
This was not the first time it is alleged Austral gave the law the slip, after famously breaking out of Alice Springs jail days before Christmas in 2016.
On Tuesday Darwin Local Court heard that despite the young man being on remand facing serious charges — including multiple counts of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, recklessly endangering life and a breach of a suspended sentence — no lawyers had visited him in 43 days.
Duty lawyer Koulla Roussos said she was told “no one has seen him, no one has talked to him” since his first court appearance, with a note on his file from his normal lawyer stating: “I have not spoken to him”.
Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris said at the time of his alleged offending Austral had four months left on an unrelated suspended sentence, where he had been ordered to remain at residential rehabilitation centre Drug and Alcohol Services Australia.
It was alleged that the 27-year-old left the centre and took off his electronic monitoring device.
Ms Morris said she had some concerns about the lack of legal visitation ahead of his court hearings before adjourning his case to January 17.
“Hopefully someone will talk to you over those more serious matters and the breach of the suspended sentence,” she said.
In June this publication revealed significant delays in legal visits to Darwin prison amid understaffing and overcrowding concerns, with the rate of legal visits halving over two years.
Corrections data showed that despite the number of remand prisoners, the number of legal visits dropped significantly over two years.
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Originally published as Lawyers fail to secure visit to famous NT fugitive Jermaine Austral despite serious charges
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