After seven years, a $250,000 bounty offer and a costly manhunt, Malcolm Naden was finally apprehended last Thursday.
Acting on information received, police attached to the Tactical Operations Unit and Dog Unit surrounded a private property near Gloucester just after 12am on March 22. The 38-year-old was arrested a short time later and taken to Taree Police Station.
He was questioned and subsequently charged with:
- Murder (incident involving 24-year-old woman at Dubbo in June 2005);
- Two counts of aggravated indecent assault of person under 16 (incident involving 15-year-old girl at Dubbo in 2004); and
- Shoot with intent to murder (incident involving police officer at Nowendoc on December 7, 2011).
Naden faced Taree Local Court on March 22 and was refused bail, with police indicating the possibility of further charges being laid. He was then transported to the high security section of Goulbourn prison Super-max and is set to appear again in court on April 24, via videolink.
The arrest has come as a relief to local residents and holiday retreat owners, and ends months of police presence in the Gloucester/Nowendoc area.
Kristy Scholes, 24, was found dead in a bedroom of a house in Bumblegumbie Road, Dubbo, on June 23, 2005. Strike Force Durkin was established to investigate Ms Scholes’s murder, as well as the disappearance of local mother-of-four, 24-year-old Lateesha Nolan, five months earlier.
Late in 2011, investigators received information their prime suspect was hiding out in rugged terrain in the Gloucester and Nowendoc areas. Extensive specialist policing resources were deployed to the region and a search operation launched. A male police officer involved in that operation was shot at a bush campsite near Nowendoc on December 7 last year.
Naden was found when a monitoring device was activated in a building he had previously visited. Alerted to his presence, the police surrounded the remote hut at Rawdon Valley and captured the fugitive. Mr Naden received injuries to his leg during the capture, reportedly from a police dog named Chuck.
NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione APM, said investigations by Strike Force Durkin were ongoing but the arrest marked the end of a very difficult and lengthy investigation and search operation by NSW Police.
“This result could not have been achieved without the cooperation of communities in northern NSW whose assistance and vital information has helped police over a long period of time. People in those communities deserve praise for their assistance and their perseverance,” Commissioner Scipione
The Commander of Strike Force Durkin, Assistant Commissioner Carlene York, said police always believed the operation would succeed.
