A PAROLEE who spent three hours as a free man before he robbed a bottle shop at Cessnock and carjacked an elderly man is back behind bars after he breached his bail and was kicked out of a residential rehabilitation centre.
Dane Adam Williams, 41, had pleaded guilty to armed robbery, aggravated carjacking and intimidation but in December was given a chance and granted section 11 bail to attend the Balund-a Program, "an innovative residential diversionary program" in far north-east NSW.
But last week he was ejected from the program for breaching a drug and alcohol restriction and arrested before appearing in Lismore Local Court on Saturday, where police prosecutors applied for a detention application.
He was refused bail and had his matter mentioned in Newcastle District Court on Thursday. The plan had been for Williams to be sentenced in July after completing the program and his matter was expected to be mentioned again in April to check his progress.
Instead, he will remain behind bars and will be sentenced on April 18.
Williams was released on parole from Cessnock Correctional Centre at 9.30am on March 29, 2022.
By 12.30pm he had held up the Liquorland bottle shop at Cessnock, about a 30-minute walk from the jail, ordered a man at knifepoint to drive him from the scene and then carjacked an elderly man at Kearsley.
At 1.10pm that day, less than four hours after his release, police spotted Williams driving the stolen Lexus on the M1 at Beresfield and he was taken back into custody, ending perhaps the briefest period spent on parole before re-offending.
He pleaded guilty to a number of charges but then spent much of the next nine months being assessed and reassessed to undergo residential rehabilitation at the Balund-a Program.
But he would make it only about two-and-a-half months into the minimum six-month program before he was removed for breaching his bail and taken back behind bars.
