Alleged international fugitive Owen Van Duren refused bail
AN international fugitive who fled Thailand for Australia in an allegedly stolen yacht has been refused bail over fears he might ‘disappear again’
Crime and Court
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AN international fugitive who fled Thailand for Australia in an allegedly stolen yacht has been refused bail over fears he might “disappear again”.
Owen Van Duren was last month extradited from the Northern Territory to Sydney charged with a brutal assault on a Thai Airways flight.
Those charges were dropped, but Van Duren now finds himself in fresh legal strife over his brazen voyage home, and faced Darwin Local Court on charges of unlawfully possessing a yacht and unlawfully possessing property.
Judge Michael Carey said on Friday that based on a police fact sheet Van Duren was “clearly on the run from Thailand”, having arrived in Darwin without his passport, which was being held by Thai authorities.
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“I have little doubt that if I grant him bail he’ll disappear again,” Mr Carey said.
Police are expected to allege Van Duren did not return the $750,000 hire yacht, which was due to be returned to a Thai charter company in July.
Van Duren was arrested at Darwin airport in the early hours of Friday morning.
He had previously been released to live at the home of his brother, Shane Van Duren, in suburban Canberra and his New South Wales court file said he had no fixed Australian address, although defence lawyer Myles Gillard said he had friends who were willing to put him up on a property at Darwin River.
Mr Gillard said Van Duren “at this stage” contested the charges he was facing in the Northern Territory.
Van Duren is due back in court on October 12.
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