At a recent hearing, a Supreme Court judge ruled that Wilmot is too dangerous to release at this stage. Photo: Chris Olszewski/Wikimedia Commons.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to sexual abuse and may be distressing to some readers.
A serial offender convicted over the notorious 1988 abduction and rape of Wagga woman Janine Balding has been approved for a $221,620 taxpayer-funded National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan, according to a recent Supreme Court judgment.
Wayne Wilmot was just 15 when he was part of a gang who abducted Ms Balding, 20, in Sydney. He was convicted of her abduction, robbery and sexual intercourse without consent. Other members of the group later drowned Ms Balding in a dam and were convicted of her murder, which Wilmot was not involved in.
The case shocked the nation and was often likened to the murder of Anita Cobby two years earlier.
Wilmot’s criminal history and porn use
After serving eight years in jail, Wilmot was released on parole in 1996 and went on to commit further offences against four women in the late 1990s.
He returned to custody and spent most of the following decades in prison before being released again in June 2024 under strict supervision.
Within days, he was warned that any access to pornography, escort services or brothels required prior approval from a supervising officer. He later asked to access a pornography website but was advised instead to purchase pornographic magazines from an adult bookstore due to the “false, unsafe and inaccurate portrayal of sex” online. Days later, he breached his conditions by accessing explicit material without permission.
He was arrested and returned to custody after checks of his phone revealed search terms such as “14 year old Asian teenage very very hard porn” and ““6 naked men to one Asian girl”.
Latest Supreme Court hearing and NDIS plan
Now aged 53, Wilmot is back in custody and was recently the subject of a Supreme Court hearing at the end of his sentence, where a judge considered whether he should be released under an extended supervision order (ESO) or remain detained under a continuing detention order (CDO).
An ESO would have allowed Wilmot to live in the community under strict conditions, while a CDO allows detention beyond sentence if an offender is deemed an unacceptable risk.
The court ultimately ruled he was too dangerous to release and ordered he remain in custody under a CDO.
The judgment also revealed that on 11 June 2025, the NDIS approved a 12-month plan for Wilmot worth $221,620.99, to be reviewed annually.
The funding formed part of a proposed supervision plan if he were released into the community — an option the court rejected.
However, Wilmot has already accessed some NDIS-funded support while on a supervised day release from custody, including engaging with a disability service in January 2026 as part of a staged reintegration program.
The NDIS can provide a maximum of four hours of support per day for his assistance with social, economic and community participation, seven days per week, once he is released.
As part of the proposed release plan, Wilmot had also been allocated accommodation at the Nunyara Community Offender Support Program, a secure, monitored facility staffed 24 hours a day.
The court noted Wilmot’s extremely dysfunctional upbringing, marked by abuse, neglect and instability, after he was made a ward of the state at age five.
Balding family’s fight to keep perpetrators in prison
Ms Balding grew up in Wagga, where her family remained. At 16, she moved to Sydney to work as a bank teller and was engaged to be married when she was killed. She would be 58 today.
Her family has long opposed attempts to release those involved in her abduction from prison.
Stephen Wayne “Shorty” Jamieson, who was jailed for her rape and murder, has maintained his innocence and fought to have his conviction overturned, claiming he was mistaken for another man with the same nickname, Mark “Shorty” Wells.
In 2023, Jamieson launched a civil Supreme Court action from his jail cell, seeking to compel the NSW Government to forensically test a bandana used to gag Ms Balding to see whether DNA on it could match Wells.
That case concluded in December 2025 without resolving the testing issue, with the court indicating it would be up to Jamieson’s legal team to decide whether to pursue further action.
Wells has denied any involvement in the crime.
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Region Riverina.
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