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Archived Press Releases 2005 19th December 2005

Judges should be appointed by the public -
and sacked by the public

(19th December 2005)

Judges should be appointed by the public and sacked by the public, according to a prominent Justice Watchdog organization.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust say that in a recent decision a High Court Judge got it wrong and the Victim involved has approached the Trust for assistance to ensure he is held accountable.

Last night's top story on TV One featured the frustration of a woman who was abducted and raped repeatedly by a man after he had murdered Kaikohe farmer Robert William Green in August of last year.

Criag Ross murdered Mr Green on 12th August 2004, he then abducted the woman at gun point and over the next two days subjected her to the most horrific ordeal possible as he threatened her at gun-point and sexually abused and raped her numerous times.

In the Whangarei High Court Judge Nicholson sentenced Ross to eight years on three counts of rape and 10 years on three further rape charges; seven years on the charge of abduction and five years for the firearms offence and 17 years non-parole for the murder charge. Adding those sentences up Craig Ross should serve at least 47 years in prison but because the Judge ordered all sentences to be served concurrently and only put a minimum non-parole period of seventeen years he will be eligible for parole at that time.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust says the Judge got it wrong and a complaint will be laid with the Judicial Complaints Authority.

Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said, "In our opinion Judge Nicholson was totally out of line, his comments that Ross’s further offending after the murder were irrelevant was not only an insult to the rape victim, but also to the concept of Justice itself.

Judge Nicholson has given criminals his blessing to rape and pillage at will and providing the criminal commits murder all other crimes will be total "freebies". We think that is disgusting and an insult to the intelligence and morals of all New Zealanders", McVicar said.

"In recent times a number of Judges have taken into account additional offences when murder has been committed and given sentences that reflect the total nature of the offending."

McVicar added that when sentencing Antonie Dixon and William Bell, both of who committed further offences after the initial murders, the Judges had specifically noted that the length of sentence reflected the nature and aggregate total of the offending.

"It appears that Judge Nicholson is out of step with what other Judges are doing and definitely out of touch with what the community is demanding."

"Sentences and comments like this are undermining the public’s confidence in the Judiciary and will increase the demand for Judges to be appointed by the public and "sacked" by the public."

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.