Convicted killer and rapist free to live in community after 30 years in jail | 60 Minutes Australia

The crimes Jamie Curtis committed could not have been more brutal or cruel: he kidnapped an innocent young couple, tortured and murdered a 22-year-old man, and repeatedly raped his 17-year-old fiancée. Curtis spent 32

years

in prison for one of Tasmania's most sadistic crimes. attacks, but in 2018 he was granted

free

dom within weeks, even though he had violated the conditions of his release and was back behind bars now the parole board has given jamie curtis another chance, outraging the

community

and terrifying to his surviving victim who argues that this devilish man has long given up any right to be

free

convicted

rapist

and murderer jamie curtis is a man who divides the

community

on one side are those who believe he should never be freed so what he did to tamika ridgeway and her fiancé dean ali 35

years

ago jamie curtis loved to terrorize and torture us, you know, he has never shown any remorse, he has never apologized, what scares tamika the most is that he doesn't respect the law, immediately violating his strict parole conditions on his first taste of freedom, anyone? he deserves a second chance he had his second chance and he blew it but on his side jamie curtis has staunch defenders his feisty partner sharon paid 33 years for what he did i think he is rehabilitated yes, i would

live

with him and The president of the prisoner legal service in Tasmanian Greg Barnes says it's time for punishment to end when a man commits a crime as heinous as the one he committed.

Does he really deserve a second chance? Well, in my opinion, yes, because Tari served his sentence. The system is not an eye for a tooth, it is a tooth for a tooth. I am certainly satisfied that this was the right decision. Certainly, Jamie Curtis sees no need to assure the community that they have earned the right to be free. Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis, just give us. the opportunity to chat with Mr. Curtis Tara Brown for 60

minutes

. Can you assure the community that he is safe and deserves this opportunity to understand the horror of Curtis' crimes?

He needs to travel back in time and break into a house in Hobart. For the brutal murder of a young man and the rape of his girlfriend in February 1986, Jamie Curtis earned the label of Tasmania's most sadistic murderer, kidnapping and torturing Dean and Tamika, mocking us with comments such as Have you ever Did you feel the blade of a chainsaw on your bare skin? He skinned and then turned on a chainsaw and eventually fatally stabbed Dean Ali, 22, and repeatedly raped Tamika Ridgeway. I spent 12 hours with this psychopath and he is a psychopath and I think I have a pretty good idea of ​​how he operates.

It's just like that. a despicable human being it was the early hours of 15 february 1986 and jamie curtis, 30, was on a bender, he and his 16 year old accomplice, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were prowling the streets of hobart looking for young girls for rape at knifepoint they kidnapped a 15 year old schoolgirl while she was reading the newspaper and shoved her in their boot unbelievably she escaped, but that was not the end of their search. Her next target was 17-year-old Tamika, who with her fiancé Dean

live

d next door to her. door to jamie curtis Dean had opened the door and as soon as he opened the door the two jumped on him so Dean was on the floor completely covered in blood and Jamie Curtis was kicking him in the head and the next thing I remember was that there was a hand over my mouth and a knife at my throat and what did you think they wanted what were they there I had no idea at all no idea but it all became clear in the next half hour or so that they were there for me they wanted a woman to help me rape for the next 12 hours.

Tamika and Dean were subjected to a degrading and terrifying attack. What happens next? Then they raped me several times, one after the other, it lasted for hours and was so degrading that they tied Dean up. and they put him in the bathroom, they tied his hands and he freed them and managed to try to get out through the bathroom window, but they heard him and came in, punched and kicked him and poured boiling water into the shower. I remember being in pure terror, I was very docile and did exactly what they told me to do because I wanted it to be over for both you and both of us, we just wanted to feel safe again, we just wanted them to leave, they said. they would leave we just want them to leave but that promise was a lie instead of leaving them alone curtis and his accomplice kidnapped the couple for a road trip that tamika feared would only end badly they put us in our car with knives to our throats and my heart It just sank because I thought today is the day I'm going to die.

Jamie Curtis knew exactly where he was taking Tamika and Dean. It was a chillingly isolated thicket more than an hour from his house, a hiding place he would go to. cutting wood, this place represents hell to me, like the worst memories of my entire life are here, so it's no wonder that after 35 years, this is the first time tamika has found the strength to go back further , the years may have changed the landscape, so you're looking. for a ravine, yes, but tamika immediately recognizes the place when she sees it right here here you think this looks very familiar this looks very familiar it's going to be okay yes, the anguish that tameka feels upon returning here is not so much because of what she suffered but for what Dean endured in his final moments they asked me to get into the trunk of the car and while I was there I could hear him begging for his life it was the last time I saw him it was the last time I heard his voice as peaceful and pristine as this environment of tasmania is what happened here 35 years ago is beyond imagination in its depravity and lack of mercy, we are standing in the same place where my life changed forever only 17 at that time, for many hours, tamika ridgeway had been repeatedly raped and her fiancé Dean Ali, 22, was kicked and punched by petty criminal Jamie Curtis and his 16-year-old accomplice, then they kidnapped the young couple to take them to a remote forest where the torment continued for hours more, so this was where they had a chainsaw and they turned it on and threatened to cut us with the chainsaw, they suggested we go get a gun and they would give us five

minutes

head start before coming after us in the bush and they just made fun of us us all day, but then the threats became real.

What you are about to hear from Tamika is heartbreaking. They got to a point where Jamie Curtis told Dean to get in the trunk and Dean told them no please don't make me go in there and this play is on my mind because I thought they wanted to put Dean in the trunk so they could kill me, but Dean didn't want to do it, so they put me in the trunk, so the last thing I heard was Dean crying and saying please no and then they turned up the music in the trunk. The car was extremely loud so he couldn't hear anything else that was happening and they pulled him over the bench and stabbed him to death.

They went back to the car and one of them let me out and I just looked around and said where's Jane? and jamie curtis pulled a knife out of his back pocket covered in blood and leaned over and said come on i'll show you, so as we were walking around the bank jamie was saying things like have you ever seen a dead body before? Have you ever touched it? A dead body earlier and I thought he was just trying to scare me and then we got to where Jane was and he wasn't lying. What did you do?

I just burst into tears. He couldn't believe that killed Dean. I don't think they would have chosen us but things like this don't happen to people like us but it has become real now that he is dead and all these thoughts were going through my mind and then suddenly I realized that I would be the next. but the men who had been drinking all day before dealing with tamika first wanted to buy more grog and meat pies. They were thirsty and hungry, but otherwise unaffected by what they had just done. Tamika accompanied them with nothing to lose.

They came up with a plan, they were obviously buying alcohol and food and I thought this was my only chance to escape. They took Tamika to the only pub in the nearby town of Gretna. I approached the door ready to jump and I waited until he looked the other direction and I opened the door and ran out, unfortunately for me at that moment the younger of the two was returning to the car and saw me half outside with Jamie Curtis pulling my hair inwards. and he ran to the car and just pushed me in, closed the door and they bolted off the carpet, what did you think he was going to happen to you if they caught you?

You didn't run away, I was alone. just gutted I was completely horrified I knew I had screwed it up and that was it he kept telling me that's it you've had it now that's the end of you and then my heart raced and I knew I was just being taken back to where they had just killed dean and i was going to suffer the same thing but first curtis wanted more jamie curtis decided he needed to drink more and thought he was going to rape me one more time but i had just had it. I was already pretty exhausted and exhausted, so when he tried, I fought back and bit him and the last thing I remember is him punching me.

Tamika is knocked unconscious and when his teacher reached them, the other two passed out without realizing it. that help was finally on the way help that could so easily have ended in a major disaster the next thing I remember is waking up and seeing the farmer who owned the property pushing me with a stick just describes that scene, what would the farmer have seen? He saw me half naked and would have seen Jamie Curtis and his accomplice passed out in the car and the floor around the car was littered with empty beer cans. He just thought we were having a party and I was trying to tell him to shut up.

We just killed someone, we have to get out of here and he said, don't be stupid, they haven't done it and he spoke very loudly and I thought, man, you're going to wake them up, you're alone and me. I saw his car and I just ran out and when I did he said okay I'll take you so he took me to his house and took me inside and called the place where Tamika was safe but there was more pain to come. On January 27 of this year,

convicted

rapist

and murderer Jamie Curtis is once again a free man, but to many he will always be one of Tasmania's most notorious and dangerous criminals for the brutal crimes he and his sixteen-year-old accomplice committed.

In 1986, he murdered Tamika's fiancée and raped her repeatedly in Gretna Curtis pleaded guilty to murdering Dean Ali, 22, and raping his fiancée, 17, to get rich. Both he and his young accomplice were sent to prison for life, many people said. that it was not enough to reintroduce the death penalty, i believe that a fate much worse than death is to be in prison, life behind bars was certainly too much for jamie curtis to contemplate eight months after being sent to prison risdon maximum security in tasmania. he escaped by escaping in a laundry trolley a search is underway in Tasmania for a convicted murderer.

Police fear he may try to take hostages. I don't think anything like this has happened before in Tasmania. He would be the most dangerous prisoner ever released. Australia's most wanted fugitive on the run for nine days, forcing the state into a panic lockdown. Tell me your reaction when you found out he escaped from prison. He was terrified not only of me but of anyone who stood in his way, because he would stop at nothing. get what he wants When he was recaptured, Curtis received another five years in prison on top of his life sentence, but in 2002, under truth-in-sentencing laws, Curtis was able to request a fixed prison sentence, so instead After a life sentence, he was granted release without parole. 30-year period, which meant that with time already served he could apply for parole in 2016.

He was rejected the first time he attempted a psychological evaluation. At the time it was discovered that Curtis had an incurable personality disorder with a host of psychopathic traits, but in 2018, the parole board decided that Jamie Curtis was a changed man and granted him his release in 2016. Jamie Curtis applied for parole. parole and was rejected in 2018, he requested and was granted what changed in that two-year period, what generally changes, uh tara, is that a person's behavior improves within the prison system attorney greg barnes is the president of the prisoner legal service in tasmania and believes that after serving his sentence curtis is entitled to freedom the parole board stated that this is a man who has a personality disorder that cannot be cured why take The possibility that you have certain personality traits does not mean that you will commit crimes, it is about balancing and managing risk and you have to trust the parole authorities, they have the experience, the parole board makes mistakes, does how sure can you be? that this will not happen again, well, no system is perfect and the freedom authoritiesparole authorities get it wrong, but generally parole authorities get it right, but it's how quickly jamie curtis violated his parole conditions when he was released in 2018 that makes people question whether authorities really got it right.

This case against strict bans, he joined several dating sites using fake names to hide his identity. The violations were not a criminal offense, but were violations of the conditions of his probation. The second point I would highlight. He's not the only one who finds it difficult to return to the community by violating the conditions of his parole, but what worries Tamika most is that when he last left, the police felt compelled to seek a restraining order against Curtis in name of his partner Sharon, a few weeks later. Upon meeting her online, Sharon's adult children reported to police that Curtis had hit their mother, which she vehemently denies, yet a 12-month restraining order was granted after the court heard police feared that curtis could further attack and cause serious injury or death to sharon an avo.

He repeatedly challenged her for violations, went back to

jail

, and lost his parole for almost two years before being released. Again in January I tried to make sense of it and I just can't. I don't think anyone can get her second chance and he blew it. Do you think someone like Jamie Curtis has any chance of being rehabilitated? but as much as Tomeka fears that Curtis will hurt others, since he hurt her, his behavior over many years while on work release shows otherwise, the fact that Jamie Curtis has been out of prison on work release since about 2015 2016 and has not committed murder, has not attacked.

Anyone the way you were attacked makes him safe today no I don't think he is because before what he did to me he hadn't committed any crime as horrendous as that but he just snapped one day and he can do it again no Is this something jamie curtis wants to talk about mister curtis mister curtis mister curtis mister curtis just give us a chance to chat mister curtis I just want to ask you can you assure the community that you are safe? You deserve this chance, Mr. Curtis, you know your victims just want to see some remorse, if you have any remorse, couldn't you tell them that you're leaving an angry Sharon to talk, what do you say to those people who are worried about him?

What about the fact that he violated his probation but didn't do it right? I was actually putting James on. Don't you understand why the police thought he hit him but he didn't? Your own children said he hit you, my own children. I think you better go and ask them. Okay, I'll thank you. Do you want to hear me? Leave me alone. No, go away or understand. Go away. Talk to Mr. Curtis. He does not want. Do you understand why? This time, the parole board has taken unprecedented steps to minimize the risk of Curtis reoffending. He has to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for the rest of his life.

He is the first individual on probation in Tasmania to do so and, as additional safeguards, Curtis has been placed on a banned curfew. him from drinking and he will be on parole until the day he dies, none of those things will stop him. I think it was one of the stupidest decisions they've ever made. He paid 33 years for what he did. I think he is rehabilitated. Yes, he would. Honestly, I will live with him. The accustomed people are to blame. Boy, everyone gets really upset and upset when Jamie Curtis reappears. He bought a new coat. He got rid of the sunglasses and cap, but his silence remains the same.

Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis, we just want to ask you. to let the community know that you are safe and that they are not at risk, that is all we want to ask you, Mr. Curtis, and with that you leave and Sharon leaves to return home on her own, how vividly Do you remember those images as if they had happened? yesterday and you don't sit and reflect on it, but something as horrible as that stays in your mind until the day you die, it's something that will never go away for 35 years. Tamika has been haunted by a horror she should never have suffered.

But her memories are not only filled with her own pain, her ex-fiancee, Dean Alley, beaten and stabbed to death when she was only 22 years old, she will never be forgotten, how do you feel and think about he? I feel very sad because they took so much away from him. I had a lot to live for he was so young it's just not fair I didn't suffer much compared to what Dean went through I had to stay alive and do things with my life that he never had the chance to do that seemed Both you and him were looking for mercy That day, yes, but that was never an option in the hands of Jamie Curtis.

Hi, I'm Tara Brown, thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia. Subscribe to our channel now to receive new stories and exclusive clips every week. and don't miss our bonus minute segments and full 60 minute episodes on nine now dot com dot a u and the nine now app