00:00Well, to start with, in 2017, Alex Ophel went to class at the ANU with a baseball bat and
00:11attacked a number of his classmates and his tutor and was found not guilty by reason of
00:20mental impairment for that offence. And there were five charges in that instance. And he
00:26had been detained in a mental health facility for some time. Now, at some point, it was decided
00:34that he was well enough. And he was granted by the tribunal that was looking after him,
00:42he was granted some conditional release. And he was allowed out for about half an hour to
00:46go for a walk. That was all very well until this incident in 2023, when he went to his
00:54parents' home, where he collected a frying pan, which was one of the things that was
01:00used in the attack. And he saw a knife in the house as well. And that was sort of impromptu.
01:06He picked that up as well, went to the university and then committed this further crime with the
01:12attacks on the two women, which has resulted in the same charges. And he's back where he
01:17started, except that with the last case, he was sentenced to a nominated term of just over 10
01:24years. This time, that's been extended to life.
01:30Yeah. So, Liz, just explain to us what today's sentence means now.
01:36Well, unlike a usual sentence for life, where you'd be locked up in jail for all that time,
01:43in this particular instance, his case will now be supervised by the ACT Civil and Administrative
01:50Tribunal, the same tribunal that was monitoring him before. And what the sentence means is that
01:58if they don't think that he's safe to be let back into the community, they have the sort of
02:05authority to detain him for the rest of his life. But if there comes a point where there's some
02:10miracle or some new treatment for his schizophrenia, then, because he has treatment-resistant
02:18schizophrenia, then there might be a chance that he might be released into the community
02:24again. But certainly today, the Chief Justice, Lucy McCallum, said that she thought that he
02:31may never be safe to be released back into the community.
Comments