Bad kidney sees remorseless rapist released

[okarol]

Bad kidney sees remorseless rapist released

May 08, 2008 02:29am
Article from: The Courier-Mail

A SERIAL rapist who shows no remorse for his victims and continued raping in jail is on a taxpayer-funded transplant program.

But a successful kidney transplant for Jeffrey William Voois would make him even more dangerous to the community.

Voois, 38, will be released in less than a month, despite an attempt by Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine to keep him behind bars.

The revelations came as Queenslanders continued to vent their fury at taxpayers footing a heart procedure bill for child killer Valmae Beck.

In the case of Voois - who raped two women and sexually assaulted another in the early 1990s, and later sexually assaulted fellow prisoners - his renal failure is the only reason a psychiatrist downgraded him from a high risk of re-offending to a medium to high risk.

Voois was diagnosed at 15 with a kidney problem and receives taxpayer-funded dialysis three times a week at the Wolston Correctional Centre.

"He is on the transplant program," psychiatrist Josephine Sundin noted in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court last month.

"Were it not for his physical disability I would put him in the high-risk category," Dr Sundin wrote.

Mr Shine said he had applied for Voois to be kept in jail until a hearing into his indefinite sentence started on July 31.

"However, the court decided the community would be afforded adequate protection through an interim supervision order," Mr Shine said.

Voois told Queensland Corrective Services staff he hoped to return to north Queensland to lead an outdoors lifestyle after he was released and was looking forward to one day getting a kidney transplant.

Government sources last night said Voois was currently not on a transplant waiting list.

Princess Alexandra Hospital consultant renal physician Dr Scott Campbell said patients needed to have organ failure severe enough to require dialysis, to pass tests that assessed overall health, be fit for surgery, have a reasonable life expectancy and a likelihood of a successful outcome to make the transplant waiting list.

About 10,000 Australians are currently receiving dialysis treatment, which generally costs about $60,000 a year each, Kidney Help Australia director Dr Tim Matthews says.

Voois still blames his female victims for rapes which occurred more than 15 years ago, telling QCS staff in December 2006 the women "wanted it because the way (they were) dressed".

The 38-year-old has refused to participate in a Sexual Offenders Rehabilitation Programs on numerous occasions.

A clash with his dialysis treatment three days a week means he will be unable to complete an intensified sex offenders course before he leaves jail some time before June 2.

Dr Sundin said Voois did not appear to have learnt much from his time in jail.

"He shows minimal remorse and continues to blame his victims," she states.

A Sexual Offending Program Assessment carried out 18 months ago found Voois, "exhibited strong attitudes that condoned the sexual assault of females".

Consultant renal physician Dr Scott Campbell of the Princess Alexandra Hospital said that on average, a kidney recipient from a dead donor would live for another 13 to 14 years.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23662105-2,00.html