Mayor of N.L. town wants notification of convict's movements

The mayor ofa small Newfoundland town says the community should be notified when a convicted sex offender from the area is released from custody.

Darren Joseph Fagan— a native of Riverhead, St. Mary's Bay— was brought into custody last week on new charges that included kidnapping and sexual assault with a weapon.

Fagan, who has been in remand while undergoing a psychiatric observation, is scheduled to appear in provincial court in St. John's on Friday.

Riverhead Mayor Gloria White said people in the village of fewer than 300 are on edge, because of the latest charges but also because of Fagan's 1992 sexual assault conviction.

Fagan, 36, was sentenced to 4½ years in prison for that assault, which involved a Riverhead woman.

White said the police should be monitoring Fagan and should let people know whenever he moves.

"It's really not even fair to say [just] St. Mary's Bay, because he's [been] living in Kilbride a while now," said White, referring to a neighbourhood in St. John's.

"He's not safe to the residents of St. John's either, as far as I'm concerned. I think he should be in the registry, and every time he moves, people should be aware of him."

A woman parked in her car at a Kilbride gas station was abducted Aug. 23 by a man who entered her car with an unspecified weapon and instructed her to drive to St. Mary's Bay.

She was sexually assaulted twice and held overnight in her car. She managed to escape the next morning.

Fagan was charged Aug. 25.

Although none of the charges against Fagan have been proven in court, a member of hisfamily thinks the town has the right idea.

"I agree. It is right to be concerned, yes— 100 per cent right," said Joanne Bowen, Fagan's sister.

"If I had young kids, too, yes, I'd be scared, too."