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Drug trafficker Deane-Johns to return to Australia
Topic Started: Feb 8 2009, 12:24 PM (31 Views)
Warren
Administrator
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Drug trafficker Deane-Johns to return to Australia

August 09, 2007 12:00am
Article from: AAP

PERTH drug trafficker Holly Deane-Johns is set to return to Australia after spending six years in a Thai prison.

The State Government today informed Federal Justice Minister David Johnston that it had agreed to allow her to transfer to a WA jail - after previously having refused the request.

Originally facing the death penalty, Deane-Johns pleaded guilty in 2003 to heroin trafficking in order to receive a reduced sentence of 31 years.

She has been incarcerated in the Klong Prem Prison in Chatuchak.

In a fax to the minister this yesterday, Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk said Deane-Johns - serving 31 years jail in a Thai jail for trying to send 10.4 grams of pure heroin to Australia in 2000 - would serve a minimum of five years imprisonment in WA after which she would be eligible for parole.

Once on parole, Deane-Johns would be on a supervision order.

"I understand that as I have provided my consent, the Australian Government will now seek the consent of the Thai Government to Ms Deane-Johns transfer and its proposed terms and conditions," the minister said in her fax.

Senator Johnston welcomed the agreement, saying the Australian Government had been working with the Western Australian Government to agree to terms for the transfer of Ms Deane-Johns back to Australia as soon as possible.

But Senator Johnston wasn’t happy about the timing of the announcement.

"But I am extremely disappointed that the WA Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk has chosen to notify me via fax just minutes after her press conference commenced this afternoon," he said.

"Ms Quirk has shown a complete disregard for common courtesy and for her agreement with the Australian Government.

"It was Ms Quirk who asked that discussions about Ms Deane-Johns be conducted privately and not via press conference."

The State Government will meet the costs of Deane-Johns transfer to WA as well as ongoing costs once she arrives.

"Mindful of the administrative arrangement between the Governor-General and the Governor of the state of Western Australia, the WA Government will reluctantly meet these costs,’’ the minister said.

The Sunday Times revealed in 2006 that Ms Quirk was refusing to allow Ms Deane-Johns to transfer to WA.

Her only reasoning at the time was that Ms Deane-Johns boyfriend - Stephen Wallace, who was serving 15 years in Casuarina Prison for offences relating to the import of heroin - was also serving time in a WA jail.

"WA prisons are not a dating service for heroin dealers," Ms Quirk said in 2006.

Ms Quirk said yesterday: "The original application for transfer was extremely deficient and it has only been through the efforts of people such as the Member for Perth, John Hyde that information about the nature of Ms Deane-Johns’ medical condition has been provided,” Ms Quirk said.

“In addition, I have only consented to the transfer after the Federal Government has agreed that Ms Deane-Johns serve five years imprisonment on her return with a further five years parole upon her release.

“The Federal Government had originally proposed that Ms Deane-Johns only serve a further three years and six months in prison. I firmly believe this was inconsistent with the need to meet the expectations of the Thai Government and the Australian community that Ms Deane-Johns serve a reasonable amount of the sentence imposed by the Thai Courts.

“Ms Deane-Johns needs medical care. While she is dealing with her health issues in Thailand, she is unable to fully reflect on her criminal behaviour. The medical care and support she needs to assist her to re-enter Australian society are not available in Thailand.''
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