Out on bail

A Deniliquin man involved in what Deniliquin Police confirmed was a stand-off lasting more than five hours in Deniliquin on Friday has been released on conditional bail.The 27 year-old appeared before bail court in Albury on Saturday morning, with his next court appearance to be in Deniliquin on April 7.The man has been charged only with breaching bail conditions, but Deniliquin Police officer in charge Detective Inspector Jy Brown said further investigations are continuing.He said this could potentially result in further charges being brought against the man.Due to the ongoing investigation, Det Insp Brown was unable to provide some details about Friday’s incident, which saw police close off a section of Edwardes St from just before 1pm and until almost 5pm.He could, however, confirm that rumours which suggested it was a hostage situation and someone was shot or injured were false.‘‘The man was arrested without incident just before 5pm, with assistance from a tactical response unit and police negotiators,’’ Det Insp Brown said.‘‘He was charged with numerous offences and refused bail to appear in court on Saturday.‘‘I can confirm no shots were fired and no one — police, civilians or others — were injured.  I can also confirm there was no hostage situation.‘‘We did have an ambulance at the scene, which is standard operational procedure in these cases.’’Police closed off Edwardes St between Harfleur St and Trickett St, and some neighbours were asked to evacuate their homes for safety precautions.Edwardes St resident Tara Macintyre said she was at her neighbour’s house when they were both evacuated 12.55pm.‘‘We were about to leave before we heard a knock at the door,’’ Miss Macintyre said.‘‘It was a police officer and he said ‘we need everyone to evacuate the buildings as we have a bit of a situation’.‘‘We asked when we were allowed to come back home and he said we probably wouldn’t be able to come back for a few hours.‘‘We got outside and saw the roads were being blocked off and I was terrified.‘‘Another of our elderly neighbours was also carefully evacuated. ‘‘She had to stay behind a police officer wearing a bulletproof vest as she walked to safety.‘‘We were freaking out but we’re really glad that police got all of us out safely.‘‘We were allowed back home at about 5.20pm and when we got back the police had the riot gear out and everything.’’Det Insp Brown said it was information from the community which led police to the Edwardes St home on Friday.He also thanked members of the public for allowing police to do their jobs.‘‘I thank the public for assisting by staying out of the cordoned off area, which we had in place for safety reasons.‘‘We also evacuated some homes for public safety.’’