escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links or blue arrows below for full page descriptions

Victim's Stories Murder Victims Stories From Kelly Lawrence's mother Tina From Aaliyah Morrissey's parents Brad and Hoana From Daniel Fleming's mother Sylvia From Brian Brown, father of Natasha Brown From Kristine Johnston mother of Shannon From Danny Alkema son of Kate Alkema From John and Val Hargreaves parents of Jennie Hargreaves From Bevan and Dawn Smith parents of Kylie Ann Smith Rita Croskery mother of Michael Choy Ann McKenzie widow of Noel McKenzie From Tai Hobson, husband of Mary Hobson Doug Blakie From Ida Hawkins, mother of Colleen Burrows In Our Courts Drink Drive Victims Stories Assault and Sexual assault

From Doug Blakie, father of Lisa Blakie

To the families and friends of Sensible Sentencing, hello I'm Doug Blakie from Timaru. I am the father of Lisa Ann Blakie who was murdered on the 2nd of February 2000 and whose body was found in the Porter River on the 6th of February 2000 by fishermen on Waitangi weekend....

Lisa was hicthhiking from Christchurch to Greymouth, she accepted a ride with a man and his name was Timothy David Taylor, aged 30 years..... He was arrested a year later after a major Police inquiry. The trial was another year later on the 13th of February 2002. The loss of Lisa was undearable and tore at the heart of our family.

Her smile and happy manners are missed by all who knew her and it helps to know that she is safe once more in the arms of family. she will always be a free spirit.

I found the police wonderful and totally committed to our case. The unending compassion and tireless work ended with a conviction. I had trouble with the Crown though, and always wanted Timothy Taylor to get a minimum parole sentence, not just the ten years he got.

I asked the Crown Law Office in Wellington to look at this but was told that Lisa's murder was at "the low end of the scale" (what a disgustingly insensitive thing to say to the father of a murder victim - Ed), all this happened after Taylor had received a ten year sentence for a raft of crimes committed prior to his arrest for killing Lisa. Taylor was convicted of rape, armed robbery, firearms offences, kidnapping, dealing in "P", many assaults, and burglary charges. This is just the sort of person who ordinary New Zealanders don't want walking the streets.

The next abuse he dealt to the taxpayer is his Legal aid Bill; it is in excess of $500,000. What really hurts me is the way Victim support struggled to get funds to accomodate my family while my trial was being held in Christchurch. Everything is for the criminal not the victims and their family. Taylor has failed in his appeal to the court of appeal, and is looking to the supreme court for an appeal.

Sensible sentencing is a great team to be associated with; Garth is a man with a strong belief in the family group and a safe and free country to live in!

Kind regards
Doug Blakie