A Newcastle man has been arrested nine days after he was mistakenly released from prison. Randolph Convery was sentenced to a minimum of 12 months in prison, but the New South Wales department of communities and justice says a human error resulted in him being allowed to walk free.
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00:00 Nine days after Randolph Convery was mistakenly released from a Newcastle local court, he
00:08 was arrested here at the Shoal Bay Country Club.
00:11 Now on Wednesday the 16th of August, he was told to walk free from the court.
00:19 That was the same day that he was given a minimum 12 month prison sentence.
00:25 Now that was for three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of being armed
00:30 with intent to commit an indictable offence.
00:33 We understand that he actually said at the time that there must be a mistake, he'd just
00:38 been sentenced and he was being told to walk free but no less authorities let him go.
00:45 Two days after that, police realised their mistake.
00:49 Now the Department of Communities and Justice has confirmed that it was indeed due to an
00:55 administrative error within the registry system that he was allowed to walk free and that
01:02 they're reviewing their processes.
01:04 So after that warrant was issued, it took another week before he was then located and
01:10 he was located here at the Shoal Bay Country Club enjoying a taste of freedom, perhaps
01:17 his last taste for a while.
01:19 Now he'll go back behind bars until January but he has been charged in the meanwhile with
01:25 attempting to escape custody.
01:29 Police say that that is because their investigations over the past week have suggested and they'll
01:35 allege that he knew about the warrant for some time but didn't make an effort to hand
01:40 himself in.
01:41 So that matter was heard in the Raymond Terrace local court this morning and it's been adjourned
01:46 until a later date in October.
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]