Sex offender flees Fairfield Residential Facility, police urge public to alert 000 if seen
POLICE are on the hunt for an escaped child rapist, after the “high risk” prisoner leapt from the roof of a facility for dangerous sex offenders.
A GOVERNMENT facility for dangerous sex offenders has been locked down after a convicted child rapist escaped by leaping from a roof and scaling a security fence.
The “high risk” offender Christopher Austin remains on the loose after disappearing from the Fairfield facility Tuesday night.
Detectives believe the 22-year-old may be headed to Mildura, but police have been told a man fitting his description was seen in Kew East about 6am yesterday.
“He was pushing a mountain bike along the Main Yarra Trail near Willow Grove, wearing shorts and a jumper,” Victoria Police spokeswoman Melissa Seach said.
The public has been urged not to approach Austin and to phone 000 if he is sighted.
The former Warrnambool resident has two years left to serve of a five-year sentence after raping a young boy while he was on parole for another matter.
He had taken the boy to a room during a friend’s party and sexually assaulted him, and threatened to kill the boy if he told anyone.
In the eight years before that 2012 incident, Austin had been in court 19 times for various offences.
Austin, who has an intellectual disability and a history of drug abuse and petrol sniffing, has successfully dodged authorities in the past, including escaping from a youth justice centre as a teenager.
He was one of eight clients at the Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Service, a 14 bed rehabilitation facility for sex offenders, when he escaped about 11.30pm last night.
Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing Martin Foley confirmed the facility had been ordered into lockdown.
There was an “immediate security check” of the premises, Mr Foley said.
“Apparently he (Austin) managed to get over a five metre high fence and did so by leaping over four metres from the roof of a nearby facility on to that fence, so he’s a remarkably agile young man as well apparently,” he said.
“But he’s not well and he should return as soon as he possibly he can.”
He said: “He (Austin) is not a Corrections prisoner, he is a disability client and we need to get him back for not just his safety, but the wider Victoria community’s safety.”
Victoria Police Superintendent Peter De Santo said Austin had associates in Mildura and could be heading there.
“He’s high risk, possibly violent, that’s why I’ve asked the public, don’t go near him,” Supt De Santo said.
Police are checking train stations and other modes of transport for signs of the escapee.
Austin is described as of Aboriginal appearance, with a rat-tail hairstyle and dollar sign tattoos on his leg and finger.
Anyone who sees Austin is urged to call 000 immediately.
* Victoria Police earlier released his name as Christopher Austen. That was wrong. The surname is Austin.
Originally published as Sex offender flees Fairfield Residential Facility, police urge public to alert 000 if seen