Editorial: More pain for families in release

It always amazes me how the justice and parole systems are allowed to make callous decisions that should be made with sensitivity and feeling.

We all remember the horror stories when paedophiles are paroled to homes near schools or their victims. The latest such bungle defies belief.

One of New Zealand's deadliest repeat drink drivers, Gavin Hawthorn, was due to be released yesterday, which just happened to be the 10-year anniversary of the death of his fourth victim, Lance Fryer, who died in a crash in Greytown in Wairarapa.

This is a man who killed four people in two separate crashes while drunk behind the wheel. In 1989 he killed three people in a head-on collision. He racked up more than 30 convictions in 10 years, more than 20 of them related to drink driving.

Now, to be fair, he has served his full 10-year sentence for manslaughter so by law has to be released. However, he has shown no remorse - even way back when he gave the finger to the camera after leaving the court room. Even in prison the 50-year-old refused to attend rehabilitation.

Imagine how the families of his victims feel. Not only has he shown no remorse, but now he is free.

I understand that people cannot be kept in prison indefinitely, but one would have hoped that a little bit more thought would have been put into his release date.

To release him on the anniversary of one of his victims' death may technically be the correct date, but these are people's feelings we are talking about. Mr Fryer's family were already dealing with sadness yesterday, but they had to have the fact that Hawthorn was winning his freedom rubbed in their faces on exactly the same day.

It is all well and good to have systems, but sometimes sensitivity is the best system.