Convicted rapist back in custody after Sydney hospital escape
Aaron Demet
A convicted rapist who was on the run for five days after escaping immigration custody while awaiting deportation was captured after police spotted a pair of shoes he apparently left behind.
Michael Angok escaped last Wednesday while being transferred from Villawood Immigration Detention Center to a hospital in Western Sydney for medical treatment.
An initial search by NSW Police found the 30-year-old had disappeared, although some of his personal belongings had been dumped on the road a few hundred meters away.
On Sunday officers tracked him to Seven Hills in Sydney’s northwest.
Angok was convicted of gang-raping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Doonside park in 2014. He had served his sentence for this crime and was being held as an immigration detainee awaiting deportation.
On Sunday night, the Australian Federal Police said that following a large-scale search and extensive inquiries by officers at Bankstown Police Area Command, they tracked him down to an address in June Street, Seven Hills, at around 3pm.
Police claimed that they found a pair of shoes belonging to a 30-year-old man in front of the house, which was declared a crime scene.
Police used the Canine Squad to sweep the area. Around 3:45 p.m., officers arrested the man at the corner of Hartley and Terminus roads in Seven Hills.
He was taken to Blacktown Police Station where a search warrant was executed. He was refused bail to appear at Blacktown Local Court on Monday.
Investigations into the person’s whereabouts before his arrest are ongoing.
Immigrants spending time in prison for crimes committed in Australia has become a major political issue since 2023, when the Supreme Court ruled that indefinite detention was illegal.
Some had serious criminal convictions, including murder and rape, while others faced less serious charges and all had served sentences behind bars before being taken into immigration custody due to visa issues.
AAP
