Sex offender back in jail after breach
A repeat sex offender is back behind bars indefinitely after he breached his supervision order by propositioning two women on the street.
In 2006, Edward William Latimer became the first WA sex offender to be jailed indefinitely under the Dangerous Sexual Offenders laws.
He was released last year after Supreme Court Justice Lindy Jenkins found the community could be adequately protected from him under a strict five-year supervision order, which included GPS tracking.
The 56-year-old was today again handed an indefinite detention order after he was caught leering and making lewd comments to women in Perth earlier this year.
One of the women told the court Latimer approached her while she was having a cigarette in Northbridge in January and told her he was “looking for a lady”.
He asked the woman if she was married and said he was looking for a woman for 20 minutes.
“I felt a little disgusted by it,” she said.
The other woman was approached by Latimer as she walked into the city to buy lunch earlier this year.
He asked her if she wanted to have some fun and told her she was gorgeous.
Police were monitoring Latimer at the time after learning he had been wandering aimlessly around the city.
Justice Stephen Hall said he had no hesitation in concluding Latimer’s conduct was indecent.
He told the court Latimer’s approach was sexually suggestive and was “uninvited and unwanted”.
“The only way he can be released is if there is sufficient external controls on his behaviour,” Justice Hall said.
The court was told Latimer could not be offered the type of structure and monitoring he needed to be released into the community.
Latimer’s past crimes include a brutal sex attack on a woman at Perth train station and the attempted rape of an intoxicated man in a Northbridge park.
