A repeat sex offender, who had breached the terms of his prison release by using methamphetamine, has been allowed back into the West Australian community on an amended five-year supervision order.
On April 1, Justice Joseph McGrath ruled that Christopher John Bentley, 57, should be released under a five-year supervision order with 58 conditions, according to 7 News.
McGrath said he was satisfied Bentley would comply with the conditions, which includes two additions related to the use of electronic devices. “I am further satisfied that the community will be adequately protected by the provisions of the amended supervision order,” he said.
He added that it would be untenable to detain the 57-year-old indefinitely for his anti-authoritarian personality and that the risk could be managed within the community.
Bentley, however, has a lengthy criminal record spanning multiple states in Australia as well as a history of drug abuse.
He was first arrested in June 2000 after he drugged and raped the 16-year-old babysitter of his former partner’s child. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the offense, and while out on bail, stalked and assaulted two different women on the same day a year later by threatening them with a large hunting knife and demanding money.
During one of those assaults, Bentley, then 39, reportedly entered one of the women’s homes with an excuse of wanting to make a phone call and then sexually assaulted her several times at knifepoint.
He was sentenced to 16 years and four months behind bars for those crimes, and also has an extensive criminal record with burglary, assault, and drug-related convictions across the country.
While it was ruled that he was a “serious danger to the community,” he was still released in May 2018 under a five-year supervision order with 53 conditions attached. He was arrested three months later for entering a woman’s home without the authorization of his corrections officer.
He was released again in February 2019 under an amended supervision order which prohibited him from consuming drugs and forced him to undergo urine tests. But three months later, he tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine and charged with contravening his order.
He pleaded guilty last August and was fined $500, following which the state applied to the WA Supreme Court for the supervision to be rescinded so he would be locked up indefinitely.
On Christmas Eve, however, Supreme Court judge Michael Corboy agreed to release Bentley under an interim release order due to what he said were “exceptional circumstances.”
Corboy had explained that the 57-year-old had been on a government housing waiting list for eight years and was “near or at the top of the list” and that he would lose his spot if he continued to remain in prison.
While prosecutors argued that he was “not to be trusted” because of his history, Corboy ruled in his favor and released him on an interim order subject to a number of conditions, including remaining drug-free. It is still unclear if he broke the conditions of the order.
