Disgraced businessman Ron Brierley was granted an early jail release because his health had seriously deteriorated while in prison, court documents have revealed.
The New Zealand-born corporate raider was last year jailed after he pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material.
After he was caught with a cache of illegal images on his laptop at Sydney Airport in 2019, District Court Judge Sarah Huggett sentenced him to 14 months’ jail, having rejected his assertion he did not know the pictures were illegal.
He was given a seven-month non-parole period and was set to be released from jail on May 13.
However he was earlier this month successful in having his sentence reduced on appeal and was driven away from Long Bay jail on Sunday morning.
The 84-year-old appealed on several grounds including that his physical and mental health was significantly worse than at txjmtzywhe time of his sentencing.
During his appeal, his barrister Tim Game told the court that since he was jailed, he suffered serious health issues.
His solicitor claimed that on the day Brierley was driven to jail he complained about a lesion on his leg which took 11 days to be examined by a doctor.
When a biopsy was finally performed, the wound bled for several days and it was later revealed to be “a very serious and aggressive form of skin cancer” which was then operated on, the Court of Appeal judgment released on Friday revealed.
The following month he also suffered a urinary tract infection and had to be admitted to hospital again after the surgical stitches in his wound broke.
Justices Robert Beech-Jones, Ian Harrison and Des Fagan also found the prison’s showers were not equipped with rails or non-slip tiles and not suitable for geriatric patients.
And affidavits submitted during in his appeal claimed he had only been able to shower once every 10 days due to his fear of falling.
The Court of Appeal found that during sentencing proceedings, Justice Health did not inform Judge Sarah Huggett that the Keith Waller unit – set up to house aged and frail inmates – was at capacity.
“If the sentencing judge had been frankly informed that, due to the Kevin Waller unit being at capacity, safe care for an inmate such as the applicant could not be assured, then her honour would have had proper material upon which to consider a shorter term or an alternative sentencing option,” the three judges found.
Brierley’s sentence was cut to 10 months, with a non-parole period of four months which allowed him to walk from prison on Sunday.
The former head of the Bank of New Zealand and ex-SCG Trust board member had claimed he did not know the downloaded images were illegal when he was confronted by Australian Border Force officers in December 2019, saying “they’ve been approved by various bodies”.
A stockpile of more than 10,000 child abuse material images was discovered on Brierley’s laptop and two USBs when he was stopped en route to Fiji.
When police raided his Point Piper home, they found a further 35,000-plus images of child abuse material on his laptop and USBs.
None of the images depicted cruelty, torture or children engaged in sexual acts.
“I reckon they’re all, they are perfectly OK,” Brierley told officers at the time.
Brierley has suffered a dramatic fall from grace since being charged, with the court previously being told he had become a social pariah, including having his name scrubbed from public buildings and schools.
It also resulted in him being ignominiously stripped of his knighthood.
