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A Hobart court has heard there was clearly nothing sinister or untoward into the actions of the convicted rapist and killer as he joined up with numerous sites that are dating and utilized an alias on Facebook.
Key points:
- Curtis served 32 years in prison for rape, torture and murder and it is a sex offender that is registered
- The 64-year-old finalized as much as sites that are dating utilized an alias for Facebook while on parole
- Curtis had been sentenced to three months’ jail for breaching their community protection purchase by maybe perhaps not reporting their internet activity to authorities
Jamie John Curtis ended up being paroled in June this past year after serving 32 years for the duplicated rape and torture of a 19-year-old woman as well as the murder of her fiance in 1986.
Curtis is just a sex that is registered and it is regarding the Community Protection sign up for life.
Among the list of conditions imposed on individuals from the register is they need certainly to report any smart phones and internet reports, account names and passwords to police.
The Magistrates Court heard within months of their launch, Curtis had joined three internet internet dating sites — flirtwith an abundance of Fish, dirty Date and Zeus — and had a Facebook account making use of a name that is fake.
He used the Facebook messenger solution to deliver two communications to a female he previously begun dating after meeting her online.
The 64-year-old pleaded bad within the Magistrates Court in Hobart to breaching the Community Protection Order and an order that is restraining.
Curtis has been doing custody since police searched their automobile and house in October year that is last seizing their cell phone.
He had been additionally faced with fraud offences but today those fees had been dismissed, after prosecutors tendered no proof.
Curtis ‘not especially able because of the internet’
Defence attorney Fabiano Cangelosi stated Curtis had “a belated 1980s comprehension of technology” and “a naive notion of what can be done with a cell phone”.
“He was created in 1955, jailed in 1986 and paroled year that is last” Mr Cangelosi stated.
“caused by which was that in 1986 as he decided to go to prison, he knew of computer systems but he did not get one … he previously extremely use that is limited of computer in jail.
“Emerging from prison he had been basically someone placing a base in to the twenty-first century with a knowledge of technology from the 1980s. “
Mr Cangelosi stated that while Curtis had finalized to state he comprehended the conditions for the Community Protection Order and carried a duplicate from it he did not really have a practical understanding of what the internet was with him on his phone.
“He just isn’t specially able with all the internet, ” Mr Cangelosi stated.
He stated their customer “thought that the net had been a fixed thing” that needed an even more active procedure to activate with and had been “naive” about what their mobile could do.
Mr Cangelosi stated the alias Curtis utilized on Facebook had not been designed to avoid authorities detection, but alternatively that he would be the target of unwanted attention because of his past crimes because he was aware.
There is “nothing by itself untoward by what Curtis had been doing on the web internet dating sites”, his attorney stated.
Offences ‘not that serious’: magistrate
In sentencing, Magistrate Michael Daley stated he accepted the breach had been to some extent because Curtis was indeed in prison since 1986 and didn’t completely understand the online world.
“we additionally accept Mr Curtis had not been doing such a thing dubious having an alias on Twitter … I think many would accept that, including me personally that is additionally on Facebook, ” he stated.
“To commit these offences while on parole is severe and it’s also certainly an aggravating factor. “
Not surprisingly, he stated the offences had been “not that serious”, but that any more offending may likely to see their face more imprisonment that is substantial.
Mr Daley sentenced Curtis to a jail that is three-month — backdated by half a year take into consideration the full time he had invested in jail because the breaches.
Curtis’ parole for their life phrase had been revoked during their amount of time in custody and then he will want to re-apply into the Parole Board become re-released from jail