The lovestruck partner of an inmate who escaped Goulburn prison in September has had her 18-month jail sentence for aiding in his breakout halved on appeal.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rebecca Watts rose to infamy overnight after it was revealed she helped her younger lover Beau Wiles flee from Goulburn Correctional Centre on the morning of September 30 in a pre-planned getaway.
Wiles, who had been serving a sentence for shoplifting and stealing charges, had been in contact with Watts via a secret mobile phone he’d acquired illegally in prison and the pair planned his early departure with infinite precision.
Watts was camped out the front of the jail complex in a Holden Commodore being driven by the pair’s friend, Robert Egan, when Wiles managed to slip away from work detail inside the minimum security wing just before 10am and make a break for the waiting vehicle.
Egan later told police had no idea of the plan when he agreed to accompany Watts to the jail, claiming he only found out about it the moment Wiles entered the car and Watts yelled to him: “go, go, drive!”.
Egan drove to a bottle shop in Moss Vale, then dropped the fugitive couple at an address in Koonawarra.
The escape was plastered all over the media just hours later, prompting Watts’ mother to urge her daughter to turn herself in, but to no avail.
The pair remained in hiding for the next 24 hours, and were on their way to Wiles’ father’s house in North Wollongong when their vehicle was stopped just on Five Islands Road at 5.05pm on October 1.
Watts pleaded guilty in a subsequent court appearance to charges of aiding an inmate to escape and harbouring an escaped criminal, as well as a host of unrelated dishonesty and stealing offences.
She was jailed for a maximum of two years, with a non-parole period of 18 months, however appealed the sentence to the NSW District Court, claiming it was too severe.
On Friday, Acting Judge Norman Delaney agreed the non-parole period of the sentence was too harsh and reduced it to nine months.
He noted Watts’ thinking at the time of the offence had been clouded by her heavy drug use, which had begun after the death of her long-term partner two years ago.
He also said it was clear she had been under Wiles’ influence at the time and was now very ashamed of her actions.