Alleged people smugglers Thomas Goertz, Jade Siu Ying Ormiston seeking bail after arrest with Hussein Chamas

Two sailors used to a life on the high seas have revealed conditions inside Darwin’s cells on remand, with one claiming she had been assaulted inside.

Two alleged international people smugglers will not be released on bail despite “terrible” conditions in the watch house and prison cells.

Thomas Goertz and Jade Siu Ying Ormiston appeared in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday both charged with people smuggling after allegedly sailing off in a yacht with a Sydney drug lord.

Ms Ormitson and Mr Goertz – whose Instagram bio says he was a “adventurer, hedonist, anti-authoritarian” sailor – were busted on the Arafura Sea by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Marine Border Command squads on January 26.

The pair were allegedly on the same yacht as Hussein Chamas, who vanished from a NSW rehabilitation facility 19 days earlier.

Mr Chamas was facing charges of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine, drug trafficking and illegally possessing a firearm when he disappeared from the Connect Global rehabilitation facility, in Swan Bay on January 8.

Hussein Chamas was facing charges of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine, drug trafficking and illegally. Picture: AFP

It was alleged he used fake court paperwork to fool rehab staff, allowing his escape, travelling 4200km from Sydney to the remote Northern Territory community of Nhulunbuy in a campervan.

A man matching the fugitive’s description was spotted on East Woody Beach signalling to a mystery boat on the water with a torch on January 25.

The next day the yacht was stopped, and Mr Chamas was arrested alongside Mr Goertz and Ms Ormiston.

Authorities arrest fugitive Hussein Chamas and two other people aboard a yacht in the Arafura Sea, off the NT coast, on January 26, 2025. Picture: AFP

The court heard the alleged people smuggling sailors would struggle to secure bail, as neither were Australian citizens.

On Wednesday Mr Goertz’s lawyer Peter Maley said he had struggled to contact his Germany-based family for help, and could not secure a spot in Darwin’s bail accommodation facilities.

Mr Maley said he was told that all beds in the Salvation Army Open House bail facility were fully booked until the end of February.

“The number one stumbling block (for bail) remains a suitable address,” he said.

51-year-old German citizen Thomas Goertz was arrested and charged with people smuggling on Sunday January 26 after allegedly helping Sydney fugitive Hussein Chamas escape Australia on a yacht off Nhulunbuy, in the Northern Territory.

Mr Maley asked if the German man could attend his next hearing in person, saying it was Mr Goertz’s only reprieve from conditions in the overcrowded Palmerston watch house.

“There are 19 people in the cell, there is no space to move, the TV doesn’t work … there’s literally mattresses on the floor,” Mr Maley said.

“The only break he has got for the last 14 days is coming into the court.”

As of Tuesday there were 111 Corrections prisoners locked in the Palmerston Watch House, with an unknown number of people in police custody — despite the facility having a maximum safe cell capacity of 100.

Authorities arrest fugitive Hussein Chamas and two other people aboard a yacht in the Arafura Sea, off the NT coast, on January 26, 2025. Picture: AFP

Meanwhile Ms Ormiston, a United Kingdom citizen, told the court she had been assaulted while in the women’s section of Holtze prison, and subjected to almost constant lockdowns.

“I understand there have been essentially constant ‘Code Ambers’ and ‘Code Yellows’,” her lawyer Brooke Houen said.

Judge Julie Franz said she was “not unsympathetic” to their plight and understood “how terrible the conditions are” in the watch houses and prisons.

However she said the Darwin court’s cell capacity was “very low” due to the number of overnight arrests coming before the courts each day.

“The spaces in the cells are limited — they’re at capacity from people coming in fresh into custody,” she said.

Both Mr Goertz and Ms Ormiston will appear via a prison video link to their next bail hearings on Tuesday February 18.

Originally published as Alleged people smugglers Thomas Goertz, Jade Siu Ying Ormiston seeking bail after arrest with Hussein Chamas