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Archived Press Releases 2008 6th August 2008

Kurariki early re-release a can of worms

(6th August 2008)

A Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman has described the decision by the Auckland High Court to quash the Parole Board’s recall application and to set Bailey Junior Kurariki free again despite clear evidence of him breaching parole as opening a can of worms, which would lead into a whole lot of complex but predictable trouble and would totally send the wrong message to other criminals, Trust Spokesman Ross Crosby said.

In September 2002 Bailey Kurariki was sentenced to seven years and was able to apply for home detention five months before his one-third parole eligibility date. He was paroled under residential restrictions and electronic monitoring in May this year. His Statutory Release Date (end of sentence) is not until mid September.

"Kurariki’s quashing of recall order certainly came as no surprise given the courts are already quashing Parole Board decisions like this too often in New Zealand, and more criminal lawyers including those in high risk and high profile cases are making allegations that the Parole Board are "unlawfully detaining" their clients in prison,” Mr Crosby said.

In 2006 convicted murderer Nathan Reihana Aicken, currently serving a life sentence, was recalled to prison after allegedly committing an assault while on parole. A Parole Board review of the decision was dismissed but he successfully appealed the decision in the Dunedin High Court which quashed the Parole Board’s decision to recall him to prison.

"The system needs to be changed so that releases on parole and parole board hearings for violent or recidivist offenders are compulsory at the end of their full judge given sentences just as is done in New York. Parole for offenders like Kurariki must be a compulsory post sentence tool to rehabilitate and reintegrate them back into the community which they would serve under strict post sentence supervision, it should never be used as early release."

Regards,

Ross Crosby
Sensible Sentencing Correspondent for Australia
Assistant to Webmaster and Database researcher and auditor,
mobile 0061 42 4993905
email rncrosby@tpg.com.au