International fugitive who stole yacht from Thailand to have sentence backdated
AN international fugitive who fled Thailand for Australia in a stolen yacht has been sentenced to 12 months in prison
Crime and Court
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AN international fugitive who fled Thailand for Australia in a stolen yacht has been convicted on charges of aggravated unlawful use of motor vehicle and unlawfully possessing property.
Owen Van Duren was last year extradited from the Northern Territory to Sydney charged with a brutal assault on a Thai Airways flight.
Those charges were dropped but Van Duren also had to face the Darwin Local Court on the theft and unlawful use charges.
Judge Elizabeth Morris, on Thursday, sentenced Van Duren to 12 months in prison, suspended after five months.
The prison sentence was backdated to September 14 last year, when he was refused bail.
Then, Judge Michael Carey said 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.
Van Duren will serve a two-year operational period and will have to pay restitution of $2141 to the court.
He will be released from prison on February 14.
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