Safety concerns prompt rapist's relocation

A sex offender who was released into a rural WA community has had to be relocated after an outcry prompted fears for his safety.

A dangerous sex offender has been relocated for his own safety just days after he was released into a rural community in Western Australia.

Patrick Alfred Dennis Comeagain, 41, was released from prison last week by the WA Supreme Court on a strict supervision order that includes curfews and electronic monitoring.

Corrective services commissioner James McMahon said Comeagain was relocated from his property because the situation had destabilised.

"I've moved him for his own safety," Mr McMahon said.

"The situation has become untenable in that location for all ... parties concerned.

"But the No.1 priority for my department and for the police department is the safety of the community."

Comeagain was handed an indefinite detention order in October 2008 after spending most of his adult life in prison.

His release from prison last week sparked an outcry from talkback callers and politicians.

Comeagain had five episodes of serious sexual offending, starting in 1987 when he was 15.

The victims were generally adult women, but five offences in 1994 were committed against a nine-year-old girl.

It was reported in The West Australian newspaper on Thursday that the Wheatbelt town's residents were given no warning about Comeagain moving in, and some female residents had begun arming themselves for protection or fled town.

WA opposition police spokeswoman Michelle Roberts said relocating Comeagain to another location only shifted the problem.

"It seems to me just really unfair to take him out of one community and inflict him on another," Ms Roberts said.

"If he presents any kind of danger to the community, to children, to women ... the place for him is in a secure facility."


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