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Robert Herewini-Waa
Robert Waa
Took part in the aggravated robbery of 21 year old Lower Hutt man Steven Stone in April 2007
He has 26 prior convictions for burglary, receiving, theft, assault and offences committed while on bail
Steven Stone
Andre Watane (primary offender)
Daniel Jeffery
Aaron Taka
Mongrel Mob
Born 1988
At large
Sentenced to four years in August 2008
Released December 2009
Background
From the Sunday News 7th September 2008
The grandad of a young sports star slain by a violent parolee in a home invasion has criticised the parole system. He was horrified to find the judge who had overseen the freeing of the man who later killed his grandson sitting on a parole hearing for one of the home invaders.
Michael Jacobs told Sunday News his family was still struggling to come to terms with the murder of his grandson Steven Stone, 21.
Stone, a representative lawn bowls player, was stabbed to death by Andre Watene in April last year. Watene, who had numerous violence and robbery convictions, had been on parole for just eight months when he and three others Robert Waa, Daniel Jeffery and Aaron Taka burst into Steven's Upper Hutt flat demanding money and cannabis.
The flatmates didn't resist and gave Watene $30 and a small amount of cannabis. But the thug still stabbed Steven who didn't drink or smoke and was unconnected with the drugs in the leg and chest, piercing his heart. Watene, 31, pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 15 years. The other three were jailed for four years each for aggravated robbery. But last month, just six months after being sentenced, Jeffery was allowed a parole hearing.
When an outraged Jacobs and his family attended the hearing to fight any release bid, they were in for a further shock. "When we got there, we found that it was the same judge who had released Watene back in 2006 who was ruling over this hearing," Michael, 68, told Sunday News.
"It was a real slap in the face, it was like a cruel joke to see the man who released Watene into the public to kill my grandson sitting there deciding on whether or not to release another man involved in his death. Jeffrey was denied parole and was ordered to remain in prison but Jacobs said the heartache still isn't over for his family.
In December, they will again have to appear before the Parole Board to try to ensure Waa and Taka aren't released back on to the street. "These guys were all sentenced to four years, which isn't a long sentence and if you ask me it's the least that they can serve," he said. "We're still coming to terms with the death of Steven, who we loved dearly and every time we get a letter from the Parole Board it's like they're rubbing salt in our wounds."The system is too lenient to the criminals. They have all the rights and we have nothing."
Jacobs said he had become so disillusioned about the New Zealand justice system he was thinking about moving to the UK with his wife Doris. "They say that justice is blind. But in New Zealand I would say that justice isn't just blind, it's deaf and dumb as well," he said. "Every day we have to carry the cross of Steven's tragic death and what do the people responsible for his death get? "A few inconvenient years in prison and then they're released back on to the streets to offend again.
"It's not good enough and it's something that seriously needs to be addressed." Watene had clocked up 32 convictions, including 11 for violent offences, before bursting into Steven's house and repeatedly stabbing him in the unprovoked attack. He had been freed from jail in August 2006, after serving less than four years of a five-year term for wounding.
The judge had no choice but to grant him parole because he had served the required percentage of his prison sentence. "The reality is that Watene should never have been released. "I've seen his rap sheet and it's a very telling story," Jacobs said. Before his death, Stone was an up-and-coming bowls player, who had been touted as having the potential to represent New Zealand.
"His death has absolutely destroyed my family, I don't think we will ever get over it," Jacobs said. "My wife still cries almost every day and neither one of us can go near a bowling green. "We've had to give up something that we loved doing with our grandson because it is too painful." Jacobs said the government needed to urgently address the parole system, saying too many violent prisoners were being released and that very few checks were in place to ensure they didn't re-offend.
"It's a huge problem in this country and it's an extremely dangerous problem," he said. "The reality is there are people out there walking around who are stoned out of their minds that would have no hesitation in stabbing you for looking at them the wrong way. The sad thing is that they were put on the street by the parole board." Asked about the same judge who oversaw Watene's parole then sitting on Jeffery's parole bid, a Parole Board spokeswoman said judges who sat on parole hearings were impartial in their decisions.
The only reason to remove a judge from a hearing was a possible conflict of interest. "The victim's hearing and offender's hearing are often held within a short time of each other, logistically it can be difficult to find another convener at short notice," the spokeswoman said. "The decision in this case was to decline the offender parole."
