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RESIDENTS were today picketing a house in Ipswich, Queensland, where notorious pedophile Dennis Ferguson is believed to have taken refuge after being chased out of another town. Ferguson had earlier fled the small south-east Queensland community of Murgon after an angry mob protested outside a house he had rented near a child daycare centre there over the weekend. Owners of the modest Palmer Ave home, around 200m from the town's new Lady Bug Child Care Centre, believed they were letting the residence to a married couple. However Ferguson moved in on the weekend and was recognised by the father of a near neighbour as he went to get the papers. Niketa Law said her father and Murgon community leader Eric Law immediately alerted police of the convicted pedophile's whereabouts. Ms Law said she understood the home's owners believed their new tenants were a married couple and were horrified to discover a convicted child rapist had moved in. "They just wanted to get rid of him," she said. Ferguson is reported to have sought help from friends who picked him up in Murgon and drove him about 300km south to a house in West Ipswich. But according to The Queensland Times, Ferguson and his group had to immediately travel to Yamanto Police Station after being confronted by media when arriving at the Ipswich property about 8.20pm (AEST) yesterday. They returned to the property about 9pm. Later last night, neighbours are reported to have thrown rocks onto the roof of the West Ipswich house. Joy Delaney, who lives across the street from the house, said the situation was on a knife's edge. “I know they should leave him alone but I don't think that will ever happen,” Ms Delaney told ABC radio. Earlier, the State Opposition, which revealed Ferguson's whereabouts yesterday, said the Murgon incident proved the Government's pedophile register was failing to protect communities. Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said the register required Ferguson to inform police of a new address within 14 days of moving there but did not prevent him from living near schools or childcare centres. "There is nothing in (Premier) Mr (Peter) Beattie's laws to stop this vile individual from setting up home in the vicinity of a child care centre," he said. Police Minister Judy Spence said she understood community concern but Ferguson had served his time and "has to live somewhere". "These vigilante activities simply do not solve the problem. We need to let police get on with the job," she said. While police were not commenting officially yesterday afternoon, it is believed they removed Ferguson from the house for his own safety as well as concerns about his tenancy agreement. It appeared he had not technically broken any laws regarding his reporting conditions, which only require he notify police of his place of residence within two weeks of moving in. Neighbours believe he moved in under cover of darkness on Friday. Ferguson spent 14 years in a Queensland jail after being convicted of raping three young children in 1988. Last month, he became the first person to be listed on a new database under Queensland's Child Protection legislation which tracks pedophiles. Ms Spence yesterday said she would consider toughening the pedophile register rules if police requested changes. A police spokeswoman said there hadn't been "any discussion" of charging Ferguson with anything. Ferguson had already been run out of towns including Toowoomba and Bundaberg. Courier Mail (2-2-2005) Glenis Green/ Rosemary Odgers and wires |
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Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisale says paedophile Dennis Ferguson is not welcome in his city and should be institutionalised, a comment which has drawn the ire of the Queensland Premier. Mr Ferguson has moved to Ipswich, west of Brisbane, after he was run out of town by picketers in Murgon in the South Burnett region yesterday. Mr Pisale is angry he was not told that Mr Ferguson was in Ipswich, finding out instead through media reports. A small group of neighbours has staged a protest outside the house where Mr Ferguson is staying. About midnight, one neighbour began throwing rocks on the roof of the house. This morning, neighbours say the situation has been tense. Mr Pisale says Mr Ferguson should be moved out of the city and put in an institution, and he has defended the small group of protesting neighbours. "All the residents are doing is showing their democratic right - what they feel - and I think that in this country, they have a right to do that," he said. "I think the only thing left is institutionalise. "I think that's the only thing left in this community because you just can't keep shifting the problem all over the state and all over the country until people start showing signs of remorse and show signs of whether they've been rehabilitated." But Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says there is no room for vigilantes and he is not impressed with Mr Pisale's call for Mr Ferguson to be put in an institution. "What do you mean by institutionalised? To do what?" he said. "Okay, so you actually believe that somebody should be locked up forever? "We have laws in this state now, and I will talk to Paul about this, which basically say that a paedophile will not be released if they're a danger to the community." But Deputy Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney says it is too late in Ferguson's case. "Those laws have failed," he said. "He needs to go into an institution and Peter Beattie has a responsibility to ensure that people such as that are kept in an institution." Mr Beattie says that is up to the courts, not the Government. Caroline Paull, who lives across the road from the Ipswich house where Mr Ferguson is staying, admits she is worried. "I don't know what the answer is, I honestly don't," she said. "These people do have to live a life somewhere." Mr Ferguson was released from jail last year at the completion of a 15-month sentence for failing to inform police of his whereabouts, after completing a 14-year sentence for abusing three children. His counsellor, Wendell Rosevear, says while he understands the community anger toward his client, he needs to be able to settle somewhere. "I've seen the man quite desperate that he couldn't go to Centrelink, couldn't get a Medicare card and had to hide under a sheet to get into a car to come and see me," Dr Rosevear said. "The media don't give the right to privacy to live in a place where he can actually behave and be a citizen that wants to change his ways, wants to be able to have a life and not upset people." AAP (2-2-2005) |
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QUEENSLAND Premier Peter Beattie today appealed for calm after another group of angry residents protested against notorious pedophile Dennis Ferguson living in their city. A group of residents was picketing a house in West Ipswich, west of Brisbane, today, demanding Ferguson leave their street. Ferguson has taken refuge in a small rundown house at West Ipswich after being booted out of Murgon in south-east Queensland by an angry mob yesterday. He is believed to have been picked up by friends and driven to Ipswich late yesterday. A local resident who wanted to be known only as Val said she lived just around the corner from the house. Val and about 12 other residents formed a picket line across the road holding signs reading: "This is not pedophile avenue", "We don't want rock spiders here" and "Save our children". Val said she believed Ferguson was still in the house although he had not been seen today. "We don't want him in our neighbourhood, we don't want him around the children," Val said. She said there was a school about 100m from the house. "People here are very angry about this," she said. Mr Beattie appealed for calm, saying Ferguson had served his time. "I understand how people feel about this. But the reality is, he's been in jail, he's done his time, the tough pedophile laws that we have now will ensure he's monitored and followed," Mr Beattie said. "Let's not have some sort of stupid, vigilante-type approach – fanned by the media for very stupid reasons." The Queensland Nationals today praised the Murgon community, and urged other communities to act as they had and protest against convicted pedophiles living in their neighbourhoods. Opposition deputy leader Jeff Seeney – whose electorate of Callide includes Murgon and who confessed to alerting media and the public to Ferguson's whereabouts – said "every single community" Ferguson sets foot into should protest with "as much passion" as Murgon had. "I would encourage other communities to take an example from what happened in Murgon yesterday and to protest peacefully and legally ... to ensure the message goes loud and clear to the State Government that the law needs to be improved," he said. Denying his words could be dangerous and incite further vigilante action, Mr Seeney said sex predators should be kept in institutions similar to those housing mentally ill patients. "If they can't be kept within the prison system, there should be other custodial institutions where they can be kept indefinitely," he said. Ferguson, who has completed a 14-year jail term for the rape of three children, has already been run out of other Queensland towns including Toowoomba and Bundaberg. He came to Queensland in December after serving 15 months in a New South Wales jail for failing to notify authorities he had a job that gave him access to children. He had initially been released in January 2003 after serving the 14-year term in a Queensland prison. AAP (2-2-2005) John Sheed/ Nikki Todd |
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