Freed immigration detainee sues Victoria Police over wrongful sex assault charge

A former immigration detainee and convicted rapist released following a landmark High Court ruling is suing Victoria Police after he was wrongly accused of sexual assault.

A former immigration detainee and convicted rapist is suing Victoria Police after he was wrongly accused of sexual assault. Picture: Diego Fedele

A former immigration detainee and convicted rapist released following a landmark High Court ruling is suing Victoria Police after he was wrongly accused of sexual assault.

Alfons Pirimapun was in February arrested and charged with sexual assault, stalking and unlawful assault before all charges were dropped and he was released from custody the next day.

After his release, police apologised to the 44-year-old, who has convictions in two states for sexual offences including rape, and said it was a case of mistaken identity.

Pirimapun, who was granted refugee status in 2006 after fleeing West Papua, was among 149 detainees, which included convicted murderers and rapists, released from indefinite immigration detention after the High Court in November ruled the practice was unlawful.

His arrest sparked a political furore, with the federal opposition using news of the incident during parliament to accuse Labor of failing on crime.

Alfons Pirimapun was released from immigration detention after a landmark ruling in the High Court. Martin Ollman

Pirimapun has now launched legal action against Victoria Police, alleging he was assaulted, maliciously prosecuted and falsely imprisoned in breach of his human rights.

Victoria Police Commander Mark Galliot at the time apologised to Pirimapun but claimed it wasn’t a mistake to arrest him.

He said the former detainee was arrested after he was identified in CCTV footage and GPS data from a monitoring bracelet placed him close to the scene of the alleged assault in Richmond.

But on second viewing of the footage, Commander Galliot said it became clear they had the wrong man.

“Very similar description, similar age, height, ethnicity. But it was clear that the other person we arrested was not the offender and that’s when we took steps to immediately release him from custody,” he said.

“Yes, there was an error in arresting the person and remanded him, and as I said as soon as we found out, we rectified it and we apologise sincerely.”

A day after Pirimapun’s release, a 55-year-old man from Kew was arrested and charged.

In 2014, Pirimapun was jailed for six years after he broke into a woman’s home and raped her while she slept.

He was detained in immigration detention after the federal government cancelled his visa due to his criminal convictions.

After his release, he was subject to strict monitoring including the wearing of an electronic bracelet and curfew conditions.

Victoria Police confirmed it had received a writ, but could not comment as the matter was before the courts.

Pirimapun’s lawyers, Robinson Gill, did not respond to a request for comment.