Mum fears for prison escapee son
THE mother of escaped prisoner Nelson Kepa has made a tearful plea to her son give himself up.
Bowen’s Phyllis Kepa said yesterday her main concern was for the safety of her son, especially considering he was due to be released next month.
“Think about what you are doing, think about what you are putting me and your family through,” she said.
Kepa was serving three years, four months and 21 days for unlawful entry with intent/ burglary break and enter.
He and fellow prisoner Levi James Brown escaped custody in Rockhampton on Monday afternoon and were reportedly sighted around the Mackay area yesterday.
“This has made me so scared,” Ms Kepa said. “I don’t want him to get hurt … I don’t think he knows what he is doing.
“I’m worried about a car accident … he has never done anything like this before.
“We thought once he got to family in Mackay he would have handed himself in … I don’t know if he is maybe coming to Bowen to see me.”
When Ms Kepa received the news her son had escaped she said she went straight to the police station to give as much information as she could to help.
Trying to make sense of the situation, Ms Kepa said she wondered if her son, who had “spent most birthdays in there” might be anxious about being released, a challenge she will also face after this event.
“I’m too scared to go out in public because once the Bowen community finds out this is my son, I’m afraid of what everyone will think of me,” she said.
Ms Kepa said Kepa, one of her seven children, received suspected brain damage from being hit by a bus as a child which left him with “the mind of a child”.
“He is not violent by nature, he is not a danger to anyone I can confirm that,” she said.
“He is a placid boy.”