AUSTRALIAN BUREAUCRACY KEEPS MAN IN JAIL

And he should not have spent time in jail anyway. See previous report here of August 3rd.



A farmer who shot dead a standover man after a two-day campaign to illegally evict him from his rented home has walked free. Timothy John Nam walked out of prison this afternoon flanked by his parents, one month after a judge ordered he be freed as soon as possible. The 29-year-old farmer shot dead a notorious standover man during a frightening two-day campaign to illegally evict him.

Nam, from Arthurville, in central-western NSW, walked out of Bathurst Correctional Centre at 2.20pm after the NSW State Parole Authority granted him parole this morning. It is believed the family was headed for their home near Wellington in the state's west.

Nam had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Michael "No Thumbs" Pestano, after he and his gang had terrorised Nam, his elderly and sick parents, his girlfriend and their 15-month-old baby boy in July 2004. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on two members of Pestano's gang who helped try to evict Mr Nam from his leased property. In the Supreme Court at Orange on August 2, Nam was sentenced to four-and-a-half years' jail, with a two-year non-parole period, backdated two years to the time of his arrest. The sentence made him eligible for immediate parole.

But Bathurst Prison failed to schedule Nam for a parole board hearing, making it unlikely that he could be freed until the next hearing of the board on September 25. The State Parole Authority today defended itself against criticism that it had taken too long to process Nam's release. The authority said in a statement that the appropriate paperwork had only been received yesterday and that in any case, Nam had not been eligible for immediate release because of the length of his sentence. "Only offenders with sentences of less than three years can be released automatically on the expiry of their sentence," the authority said. "In making a parole order, the State Parole Authority must receive and consider specific reports. "If parole is granted without these reports, the Parole Authority is in breach of its statutory obligations."

The authority said the process of preparing and receiving reports normally took up to six weeks and included the inmate's police record, the judge's sentencing remarks, comments from victims of the crime and the suitability of the the inmate's post-release arrangements. "In Mr Nam's case the process was fast-tracked because of the special circumstances of the case," the authority's statement said.

Pestano and his gang, which included his son Jason and Victor Kimble, a former associate of the late Sydney standover man Tim Bristow, had been trying to remove Nam and his family from the property they had leased for eight years. Nam's parole is due to expire on February 2, 2009.

Report here


(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)