Mistakenly released prisoner Cody Herceg found hiding in bed under blanket: police

Cody Damien Herceg, who has boasted on Facebook of his ping pong prowess, was incorrectly set free from Canberra's jail last week after he finished serving a sentence.

The 26-year-old should have remained behind bars because he had been refused bail on numerous outstanding charges, but the ACT government has admitted "information in relation to the detainee being on remand was missed while assessing his release".

The government's Justice and Community Safety Directorate has described this as "unfortunate" and blamed it on "human error".

The Canberra Times revealed on Tuesday that Herceg had been erroneously released after the situation came to light in the ACT Magistrates Court.

Magistrate James Lawton had, the previous afternoon, told the 26-year-old over the phone to hand himself in as soon as possible.

Herceg, who failed to do so despite saying he would "try", and a warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday.

Police claim to have subsequently "forced entry" to the Chisholm home of Herceg's partner at 9.22pm on Wednesday night.

Officers allegedly found the 26-year-old "concealed under a blanket in a bedroom".

He was arrested and appeared in court on Thursday, when he was hit with three fresh charges that related to alleged offending in April.

They were possessing a prohibited knife and knuckleduster, as well as an ACT driver's licence that was suspected to have been stolen.

The 26-year-old did not enter pleas.

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Those allegations joined two other sets of charges, on which Herceg was meant to have been remanded in custody at the time he was wrongly let loose.

Legal Aid duty lawyer Georgia Le Couteur applied for Herceg to be released on bail, telling the court he had instructed her that he had not been aware he had been the subject of an arrest warrant.

She said while police suggested the 26-year-old was found "hiding under a blanket", the late hour of Herceg's arrest meant it was open to the court to find he had been "simply in bed".

Ms Le Couteur added that Herceg would be able to report to police regularly and work as a scaffolder if he was released again.

But prosecutor Ellen Riley opposed bail, saying Herceg was a risk of reoffending and that he posed "a high likelihood" of failing to appear in court when required.

"The defendant was told by telephone he should come to court [on Monday] and he did not attend," she said.

Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker referred to this as she refused bail, adding that Herceg now had "a significant number of matters before the court".

She also described his criminal history as "significant", saying it included convictions for offences of dishonesty and failing to answer bail.

Herceg is due in court to enter pleas on the fresh charges on August 12.

He is also expected to face contested hearings on August 25 and September 24.

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