By Perry Duffin and Jessica McSweeney
The drug addict who attacked celebrated police officer Samantha Barlow has been quietly released out the back gate of a Sydney prison after the NSW government abandoned a plan to challenge his parole.
Roderick Holohan was whisked out of Long Bay jail on Wednesday morning to avoid the awaiting media, before being handed over to a charity group who will help him reintegrate into society in the regional town of Nowra.
Former police officer Samantha Barlow, pictured in 2013.Credit: Steven Siewert
An angry Barlow was only told at 6pm on Tuesday that the government appeal would not proceed. She questioned how women are supposed to avoid the “high-risk” violent man as he begins a new life in a town where no one knows his face.
“If he is no longer a threat to community, why wasn’t he given his things told where the bus stop was and released just like everyone else where the media were waiting?” Barlow and her husband Laurence said in a statement.
Roderick Holohan pictured during his trial in 2010 for attacking police officer Samantha Barlow.Credit: Seven News
The Barlows said they were stunned to hear “the person who destroyed our lives” was ushered out of Long Bay to keep him away from the public eye.
Holohan bashed Barlow in the head with a brick while she walked through Kings Cross on her way to work in 2009, robbing the police sergeant of $200 for a hit of heroin and leaving her for dead.
Two weeks ago, Holohan was greenlit for release by the State Parole Authority under stringent conditions to temper his “high risk” of violent reoffending, despite evidence he had been a troublesome prisoner with a lengthy history of misconduct.
Following the parole decision, NSW Premier Chris Minns said Attorney-General Michael Daley would seek “advice about potential avenues for appeal” on behalf of the government.
Sources within the justice system not authorised to speak publicly said the government was told there was no chance of any appeal succeeding. Barlow received a call from Daley on Tuesday night notifying her of that decision.
“It was better late than never. It was the first time I had heard from him … clearly he knew there was nothing he was going to be able to do at that late stage. I was surprised I actually got the call,” she told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
Barlow and husband Laurence only found out her attacker was up for parole through unofficial whispers.Credit: Janie Barrett
Daley informed Barlow that an appeal could only proceed if the judge had made an error in interpreting the law when sentencing Holohan. The government found no such error, so an appeal could not proceed.
“The attorney-general contacted Sam Barlow to personally notify her that legal advice exploring possible avenues of appeal against the parole authority decision was unequivocal that there was no prospect of a successful appeal,” a spokesman for Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said.
Holohan will be forced to wear an electronic monitoring device and excluded from 18 local government areas to protect the safety of the former police officer.
“If the offender breaches any of those exclusion zones, police will be notified, and immediate action will be taken,” the spokesman said.
“Our thoughts are with her [Samantha Barlow] following the independent State Parole Authority’s decision to release Roderick Holohan on parole.”
The State of NSW and the commissioner of Corrective Services had opposed Holohan’s release, while Barlow warned the state would become more dangerous for women with him walking the streets.
When he viciously beat Barlow, Holohan was on parole over savage attacks on two other women.
The State Parole Authority (SPA) said no parole was risk-free, but it was safer to supervise Holohan outside prison than to release him unsupervised at the end of his sentence.
Community Corrections, a branch of the government that supervises offenders outside prison, supported Holohan’s release, saying he had become “institutionalised”.
Holohan’s parole sparked a review of the Victims Registry, which alerts people to the release of their attacker, but only if they opt in to the service.
The Barlows were never enrolled in the registry and claim they were never made aware of its existence. They found out about Holohan’s parole hearing just four days beforehand through unofficial channels.
It forced them to rush to Sydney to deliver a cobbled-together statement to the authority.
Minns promised the government would now move to an opt-out system for victim notification after urging by the Barlows in the Herald.
The government later discovered no single agency was responsible for informing victims when their attackers were due for parole, a situation the government will also reform.
Holohan will be placed in temporary accommodation and can be supervised until the end of his sentence in 2029.
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