Out of control: why a small village in Australia has become a hotbed of disorder

The small town of Fregon in the Australian outback is called the "kingdom of lawlessness" because of the lack of police in it. In an uncontrolled environment, terrible crimes occur that are not investigated. The tragedy, when a 56-year-old nurse was raped and brutally murdered, was the last straw in the cup of patience of local residents. After this incident, people began to raise an uproar in social networks and talk about the inactivity of the authorities around the world.Shocking attacks happen regularly in the village of Fregon, and this is not strange, because the police do not control what is happening here at all. The recent murder of a nurse caused an international outcry and forced the local authorities to reconsider their attitude to law and order.

Gayle Woodford, 56, from Fregon, worked for the Nganampa Health Board in South Australia and often traveled to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjara Aboriginal region to provide health care to the population. In 2016, the woman disappeared, and three days later her body was found in a shallow grave in the woods.

The woman was raped and killed by a local resident, and he used an ambulance to take away and hide the victim's body.

In 2017, the investigation of the case was completed. Relatives and friends of the deceased are sure that if the city was constantly under police control, the tragedy would not have happened. Gail's family appealed to the highest authorities to get a fair punishment for the killer. Dudley Davey was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

There are 300 people living in Fregon. The nearest police station is located half an hour's drive from the village. Investigators are outraged that Dudley, who was already serving a sentence in prison, was in the settlement without proper supervision after his release. The rapist attacked the women several times and killed the nurse, having been at large for only a few months.

The brutal murder of Gail Woodford has raised concerns about the safety of health workers who are being sent to remote locations in Australia to help Aboriginal people. The medical staff collected more than 130,000 signatures asking them to provide them with reliable protection during long-distance trips.

The high-profile case forced the Parliament of South Australia to pass the "Gale law", which prescribes: together with a medical worker, an accompanying person must go to dangerous places on a call.

Gail's husband Keith Woodford says that their family is still torn by the pain of loss. He is sure that if the rapist was in the village under police control, this would not have happened.

Australia is not called the "deadly continent"for nothing. The danger to life reigns here literally at every step.