Notorious Queensland rapist released into community

A notorious rapist, who once assaulted a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint, is now a free man after an appeal to supervise him failed.

Robert John Fardon, one of Queensland’s most notorious rapists, is free to live in the community after the state government lost a last-ditch appeal to keep him classified as a dangerous prisoner.

Fardon’s supervision order was due to expire in October, however the court managed to briefly extend the 69-year-old’s monitoring conditions until 2019 after it ruled there was a reasonable belief he could be a serious danger to the community.

Fardon was released from jail in 2013 under the Dangerous Prisons Act and has spent the past five years living in a home with other convicted sex offenders under strict parole and near a jail complex.

But as of January 9, Fardon’s classification as a dangerous prisoner has been lifted and the convicted rapist has been freed into the community.

Fardon will now be watched under the Child Protection Act, which allows police to know where he lives and travels, ask questions about his phone and internet connections and know the passwords of his social media accounts.

He will also be required to regularly report to police, including notifying them if he has any contact with kids, and register his home address.

Rapist Robert John Fardon.

Fardon was jailed in 1988 for 13 years for violently raping a woman, a decade after raping a child at gunpoint.

Four months after he was released from prison for his crimes, he raped another woman.

Fardon will remain monitored for the rest of his life after the state government last year rushed through law changes as a backup plan.

The government changed the law in September to ensure repeat child sex offenders would be monitored for life.

In October, the government made a case to the Supreme Court to uphold Fardon’s classification as a dangerous prisoner, in contrast to three psychiatrists who said he posed a low risk of carrying out more crimes and should not remain supervised.

In a statement, Queensland’s Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath had sought legal advice on trying to keep Fardon behind bars.

“Like most Queenslanders, the Palaszczuk Government wants Fardon to be strictly supervised in the community,” Ms D’Ath said.

“That is why the government took legal action to extend the supervision order first put in place five years ago.

“After the application to extend his order was rejected by the Supreme Court again, the Palaszczuk Government requested legal advice as to whether a further appeal would be successful.

“We have been informed that there are no grounds for an appeal.”

Fardon was previously marked as “never to be released” for his horrific crimes, one of which included luring a 12-year-old girl out of her house and raping her at gunpoint in 1978.

Sharon Tomlinson was the 12-year-old girl raped by Fardon four decades ago and previously told the ABC she cried tears of joy when she learnt Fardon would stay in jail in October.

“I was in tears, with happiness, and I just felt a sense of justice,” she told the ABC in October.

“The community now is a lot safer, just by knowing that the judicial system is taking things a bit more seriously than they used to.”