An Irish backpacker pleaded guilty today to assisting in the June breakout of 35 asylum seekers from a detention centre in the Australian outback.
Mr Jonathon Joseph O'Shea (22) was remanded in custody to be sentenced tomorrow after pleading guilty in the Port Augusta court to aiding and abetting the breakout from the Woomera centre in the desert of South Australia.
Thirty-five inmates, mostly from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, fled the centre on June 28th and eight are yet to be recaptured.
Last week two of the escapees, boys aged 12 and 13, sought refuge at the British consulate in Melbourne, demanding political asylum. The request was rejected and the two were returned to custody.
Woomera has experienced riots, hunger strikes, arson and self-mutilation by detainees, many of them failed asylum seekers, for the past year.
AFP
