An Irish backpacker who admitted helping asylum seekers escape from an Australian outback detention centre will be released from custody next week, a court ruled today.
Jonathon Joseph O'Shea, 22, was jailed for two months with one month suspended after he pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding and abetting a mass breakout from the Woomera detention camp in South Australia.
Port Augusta Magistrates Court ordered O'Shea to be released on August 3 on a two-year good behaviour bond.
A total of 35 asylum seekers escaped from the detention centre on June 27 after supporters used cars to pull down fences surrounding the camp. Most have since been caught. Eight are still on the run.
Several people have been charged with aiding and abetting the asylum seekers' escape.
Hundreds of people who have sought asylum in Australia - mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka - are being held in camps.
About half are people whose bid for refugee status has been rejected, but who cannot be returned home because Australia has no repatriation agreements with their governments.
AP