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A convicted gang rapist who managed to evade authorities for five days after fleeing a hospital has been denied bail upon his recapture.
Michael Angok, aged 30, appeared before Blacktown Local Court on Monday. He did not submit a bail application, and Judge Rachael Wong officially denied bail during the proceedings.
The case is scheduled to be revisited on June 5, as indicated by court records.
Angok, who was previously convicted for his involvement in the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl during a gang rape in Sydney in 2014, was under immigration detention. His escape from Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital on Wednesday initiated an extensive police search.
The authorities located Angok in Seven Hills, a suburb in the city’s northwest, on Sunday. He was apprehended following the discovery of a pair of shoes in a residence during a police investigation.
Angok had served his sentence for the offence against the teen, perpetrated in a park in the suburb of Doonside, and was being held in custody as an immigration detainee.
He was being transported from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre for medical treatment before he escaped.
Australian Border Force declined to comment on the matter as it was before the courts, but said the “safety and security of the community remains the absolute priority for the ABF and Department of Home Affairs”.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke did not respond to a request for comment.
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said Angok’s case showed a slide in security at federal immigration facilities.
“Escapes have more than doubled under Labor in only two years,” Duniam said in a statement.
“This points to a system that is clearly not being properly managed.”
The issue of crimes committed by immigration detainees is controversial and evokes memories of the so-called NZYQ cohort, non-citizens detained indefinitely as a risk to the community then released after a 2023 High Court ruling deemed the detention unlawful.
The cohort’s release grabbed headlines after the coalition seized on alleged reoffending to criticise the government for failing to keep them locked up following the High Court ruling.
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