Sex offender Christopher Empey tracked down after six-week police manhunt

Christopher Empey, who was yesterday tracked down after a six-week manhunt, is expected to be added to a sex offender register for life over what he did in 2002.

A man described by a Victorian judge as a “monster” was tracked down on Wednesday after allegedly cutting off his ankle bracelet and fleeing interstate.

Christopher Empey, 46, was tracked down at Tin Mine Huts in the Kosciuszko National Park in NSW after a six-week manhunt.

He was expected to be extradited to Victoria after an appearance at Cooma Local Court today.

Empey was last seen in December in Nowra, on the NSW south coast, having allegedly fled Victoria on the same day he was expected to have more strict conditions applied to his parole.

The convicted sex offender was jailed in 2003 over a vicious rape and assault of a 30-year-old colleague in Melbourne.

The attack took place on July 27, 2002, in a stairwell at a Southbank apartment complex after a night of drinking.

Empey, who was married and had a small child at the time, raped the woman, walked out in to the street and returned to stomp on her head. Her injuries included facial fractures, a partly amputated ear and brain damage, The Age reports.

Justice Bernard Teague said in 2003 that Empey was a “monster” and that his actions were “incomprehensible” and potentially deadly.

A POLICE search has been launched to find a rapist dubbed a "monster" after he raped and bashed a colleague after a work function.Police believe Christopher William Empey, who has spent the past 16 years in jail, has removed his GPS bracelet and it was found in Baddiginnie, south-west of Benalla.In his 2003 sentencing, a Supreme Court judge described his vicious attack on a woman as “the acts of a monster".After the rape Empey walked off before returning to inflict more pain, stomping on his victims head in the 2002 assault in the stairwell of a Southbank apartment building.He was married with two children at the time.The registered sex offender, 46, may be in the Mansfield area and riding a yellow 2005 Suzuki DR650 motorbike, with the registration GD531.Police are appealing for information on Empey’s whereabouts. Anyone with information should phone [phone].

“Without urgent intervention, the victim would have died within a short time,” Justice Teague said.

Empey was jailed for 12 years and released on parole in 2015. His tracking bracelet was found smashed to pieces in December, the day after he was expected to be registered on a permanent sex offender list.

“We are aware Mr Empey wasn’t keen on those obligations and believe that’s the reason he’s failed to attend court and now he’s actively avoiding police and his apprehension,” Assistant Commissioner Neil Paterson said at the time.

Police located him on the Cascade Hut Trail, about 400km from Nowra, at about 5pm on Wednesday following a tip-off to police from a member of the public.

Empey’s victim told Fairfax in December last year that she will never get over what he did to her.

“You try to put it behind you and move forward but it never leaves you,” she said.