Amanda Watt, who was raped by convicted sex offender and murderer Hayden Taylor, is calling for his latest parole bid to be rejected. New Zealand Herald photograph
Amanda Watt, who was raped by convicted sex offender and murderer Hayden Taylor, is calling for his latest parole bid to be rejected. New Zealand Herald photograph
A former sex worker who was kidnapped and raped by a callous killer cannot forgive or forget what he did more than 20 years ago.
Amanda Watt is petrified Hayden Taylor - who attacked her and whom she describes as a "monster" - will be granted parole on Monday at his 12th hearing in front of the Parole Board.
Taylor, 41, is on preventive detention at Paremoremo's Auckland Prison for the brutal murder of pregnant teenager Nicola Rankin in September 1996, a horrific crime he committed while he was on bail for raping Watt six months earlier.
"I will never forgive him. It made it worse when he killed Nicola and her baby. I am lucky he spared me but I hated him having that power," she said tearfully.
When Taylor sought release from prison in 2009 it came to light at the Parole Board hearing that he had allegedly abducted and raped a 14-year-old girl before going on to kill Rankin.
Watt, who has previously waived her rights to anonymity as a victim of sexual assault, has made a plea for the woman to come forward and press charges.
"We will support you. We don't want him to re-offend."
Tomorrow Watt, along with Rankin's Australian-based mother, Carol, will attend the Parole Board hearing.
Watt said Carol Rankin found every parole board meeting stressful and feared Taylor would eventually be released from prison. She fears Taylor will eventually walk free.
She still felt "demonised" by Taylor and his offending.
Her message to the Parole Board would be: "How long can you keep him in? You are the ones with the power, it's up to you but I will never feel safe if Hayden's out."
At least year's parole board hearing Taylor continued to deny responsibility for elements of his crimes. The board noted Taylor's continual denial his crimes were sexually motivated.
The killer met Rankin when they were St John ambulance workers. He forced the teenager to walk into the remote Riverhead Forest, 35km northwest of Auckland, and bludgeoned her with a spade.
Rankin's body was found in a shallow grave with her hands bound behind her back and her underwear removed.
Watt says she "will never forgive" . Photo / Janna Dixon
Taylor had just been released on bail for a strikingly similar attack on Watt in April 1996, in which he threatened her with a knife, tied her hands behind her back and raped her in his car.
"We [sex workers] have 30 seconds who we choose to get into the car with - he was the biggest mistake," said Watt, 41, who worked on Karangahape Rd for nine years.
"At first glance he looked innocent, friendly and cute even. I thought there is no risk here. I considered myself lucky because we usually meet dirty old men."
"He held a knife to my throat and raped me," she said,
"I was frozen. I kept saying, 'Please don't kill me, please don't kill me'."
Taylor drove her to Muriwai Beach, where he tried to force her into the sand dunes. But, terrified he would kill her, Watt managed to persuade him to return to the city.
He has completed the Adult Sex Offender Treatment Programme and other rehabilitation courses, but the Parole Board has previously ruled he didn't meet the threshold for release.
Watt said she understood Taylor had previously been granted weekend leave from prison.
