A Perth woman allegedly assaulted by a freed immigration detainee has asked the immigration minister why the man’s ankle monitoring bracelet was removed weeks before the alleged attack.
Ninette Simons, 73, and her 76-year-old husband, Phillip, were allegedly violently assaulted by three men during a home invasion on 19 April, during which Ninette was beaten and $200,000 in jewellery was stolen.
Kuwaiti-born Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, previously convicted on drug charges, has been charged over the alleged attack.
The decision to remove the ankle bracelet from the 43-year-old Doukoshkan, was made in March by the Community Protection Board, a panel of justice system experts set up by the government in the wake of the high court ruling in the NZYQ case, that found indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.
Doukoshkan had previously been obliged to wear the monitor after being released from immigration detention, part of a cohort of about 150 former detainees released as a result of the court decision.
During an interview with Channel Nine on Wednesday, the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, rang Ninette Simons. She questioned him about the lack of monitoring for Doukoshkan, who had already been accused of breaching his bail conditions.
“Why was his ankle bracelet removed in March?” she asked the minister.
Giles said that he was seeking information from the three-member Community Protection Board.
“I don’t feel very safe here unfortunately, I don’t. But I’m doing my best to live here,” Simons told Giles.
“Any noise I hear, any doorbell rings, I’m just jumping out of my skin … we should feel safe, but we feel we have been let down.”
Court documents show there had been earlier issues with Doukoshkan’s monitoring. On 13 February, his electronic monitoring showed a low battery – a fact known to the Australian federal police. The device went flat on 14 February.
The next day, Doukoshkan emailed police about problems charging the device. It was not until 16 February that AFP officers visited Doukoshkan to check on him.
Doukoshkan faced court in February over alleged curfew breaches. Bail was not opposed by the commonwealth, and the charges were later dropped over an administrative error around the issuing of his visa.
Doukoshkan was wearing the ankle bracelet at his court hearing in February, but in March it was judged he no longer needed to wear it.
Doukoshkan was bailed again by a Western Australian court several days before the alleged attack, after being charged with a drug-related offence.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked on ABC radio on Thursday morning about the decision not to continue monitoring Doukoshkan.
“The Community Protection Board is, of course, a board that’s independent of politicians … It’s not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases, particularly ones that are before the courts. And this matter is, of course, before the court.”
Albanese said: “My thoughts are very much with Ninette Simons and with those directly affected. It is unacceptable. There’s no place for violence in our society.”
