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Offender Databases Anthony Smolenski

Anthony Mark Smolenski

Alias

.

Offences

Rape, indecent assault, assault and threatening to kill one Tauranga women in January 2004
Also threatened another woman at the same time
Also Indecent assault and assault of a 15 year old Tauranga girl during 2003
Was on bail for the earlier offence when he committed 2004 offence.

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

Dhruva Reid

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1980

Current Location

At large

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 years 6 months in December 2004
Released on parole May 2012

Background
Dominion Post story Tuesday 23rd October 2007
A man who raped a teenage schoolgirl while on bail for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old could be freed from jail today after serving just a third of his 9 and a half year sentence. Antony Mark Smolenski wants to be freed to the care of his parents in Katikati, near Tauranga, despite being denied parole in April and not having completed a treatment programme. His mother - who says her son believes he is not guilty - said she and her husband had agreed to look after him and drive him to a psychologist once a week.

But his victims are fighting to keep him behind bars and have made an impassioned plea to the Parole Board, as they believe he will offend again. "It scares me a lot," the woman he raped told The Dominion Post from her home in Tauranga. "When I think about him getting out, I just start panicking and freaking out, just climbing the walls. "I'm just not coping with it at all - inside I am just screaming." Smolenski is one of a dwindling number of offenders still eligible for home detention after a third of their sentence.

As of October 1, home detention became a sentence in its own right, able to be doled out by judges at sentencing, but ceased to be an option for prisoners already behind bars unless part of their parole conditions. Smolenski became eligible just before the cutoff date. He was 24 when he and a friend lured two girls to a tunnel at a recreation area near Waihi in the middle of the day in 2004. The two men had been drinking. He raped one of the girls while holding a knife to her throat, and indecently assaulted the other, while the other man stood back.

He was later convicted of rape, threatening to kill and two charges of indecent assault, and was sentenced to 9½ years in prison in late 2004, but with no minimum parole period. That enabled him to apply for parole as soon as the option became available in April, but a three-person board turned that down. One reason was that he had been given no treatment. He is now applying to serve out the remainder of his sentence in home detention in the community where his accomplice lives.

"He is a predator," said the mother of one of the girls he indecently assaulted. "He is a threat. "He was on bail and he did something really heinous to someone, and he showed a blatant disregard for the rules then. "Why are we the ones having to argue about keeping him in? It's just a constant torment." At the time of the rape, he was awaiting sentence for indecent assault. He lured a girl by claiming he wanted to hire her to fold pamphlets, promising to pay her $15 an hour. He picked her up from school and drove her to a river, where he forced himself on her. She escaped after kicking him in the throat.

Smolenski has never admitted guilt or expressed remorse. At his Parole Board hearing in April, he denied any rape or indecent assault ever took place. Smolenski's lawyer Be Leary expected the board's decision to be delayed because he was awaiting psychological reports. They were needed to allow the board to make a fair decision, he said. A Parole Board spokeswoman said the board's main focus was the safety of the community. Since 2002, 70 per cent of home detention applications heard by the board had been turned down

Dominion Post story October 24th 2007
A YOUNG woman raped near Waihi more than three years ago recounted it before the Parole Board yesterday in a bid to keep her assailant behind bars. A decision on Antony Mark Smolenski's bid for home detention is expected today, after a hearing in Te Awamutu.

"I think it went well," said the woman, who cannot be named. "It was difficult talking about it - it was pretty awful - but I am glad I made the effort. I'm just hoping for the best."

The woman, now the mother of a child, was supported by her mother and partner. Smolenski has served a third of a 9 year 6 month sentence for raping a teenage schoolgirl while already on bail for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old. Convicted in 2004 of rape, threatening to kill and two counts of indecent assault, he is one of a small number of offenders still eligible for home detention after serving a third of their sentence.

He wants to live with his parents in Katikati. A parole bid six months ago failed. His lawyer, Eb Leary, hopes a board decision will wait till psychological reports are done. The board sought a forensic report into his mental health in April. It is reportedly not yet completed.

From the Dominion Post 23rd October 2007
A man who raped a teenage schoolgirl while on bail for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old could be freed from jail today after serving just a third of his 9 year six month sentence. Antony Mark Smolenski wants to be freed to the care of his parents in Katikati, near Tauranga, despite being denied parole in April and not having completed a treatment programme.

His mother - who says her son believes he is not guilty - said she and her husband had agreed to look after him and drive him to a psychologist once a week. But his victims are fighting to keep him behind bars and have made an impassioned plea to the Parole Board, as they believe he will offend again. "It scares me a lot," the woman he raped told The Dominion Post from her home in Tauranga. "When I think about him getting out, I just start panicking and freaking out, just climbing the walls. "I'm just not coping with it at all - inside I am just screaming."

Smolenski is one of a dwindling number of offenders still eligible for home detention after a third of their sentence. As of October 1, home detention became a sentence in its own right, able to be doled out by judges at sentencing, but ceased to be an option for prisoners already behind bars unless part of their parole conditions. Smolenski became eligible just before the cutoff date. He was 24 when he and a friend lured two girls to a tunnel at a recreation area near Waihi in the middle of the day in 2004.

The two men had been drinking. He raped one of the girls while holding a knife to her throat, and indecently assaulted the other, while the other man stood back. He was later convicted of rape, threatening to kill and two charges of indecent assault, and was sentenced to 9 years 6 months in prison in late 2004, but with no minimum parole period. That enabled him to apply for parole as soon as the option became available in April, but a three-person board turned that down.

One reason was that he had been given no treatment. He is now applying to serve out the remainder of his sentence in home detention in the community where his accomplice lives. "He is a predator," said the mother of one of the girls he indecently assaulted. "He is a threat. "He was on bail and he did something really heinous to someone, and he showed a blatant disregard for the rules then. "Why are we the ones having to argue about keeping him in? It's just a constant torment." At the time of the rape, he was awaiting sentence for indecent assault.

He lured a girl by claiming he wanted to hire her to fold pamphlets, promising to pay her $15 an hour. He picked her up from school and drove her to a river, where he forced himself on her. She escaped after kicking him in the throat. Smolenski has never admitted guilt or expressed remorse. At his Parole Board hearing in April, he denied any rape or indecent assault ever took place.

Smolenski's lawyer Eb Leary expected the board's decision to be delayed because he was awaiting psychological reports. They were needed to allow the board to make a fair decision, he said. A Parole Board spokeswoman said the board's main focus was the safety of the community. Since 2002, 70 per cent of home detention applications heard by the board had been turned down.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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