Pathway Trust that housed murderer Joseph Brider loses suppression after Supreme Court decision

• Juliana Herrera was murdered in her Christchurch flat in 2022 and Joseph Brider was jailed for life after admitting to the brutal attack.
• He was on parole when he killed Juliana and had moved into the flat next door.
• The charity that housed the offender has battled to keep its name secret since the murder.
• Today it can be named after multiple appeals by the Herald were successful.
• Charity makes first public statement about Brider’s “deplorable” crime.

The charity that was housing convicted rapist Joseph Brider when he broke into Juliana Herrera’s Christchurch flat and brutally murdered her can now be named - after media successfully challenged a court order keeping the details secret.

The Pathway Trust was the organisation that took Brider on when was released on parole, putting him in the house next to Herrera just weeks before he murdered her.

The Supreme Court has ruled there is “legitimate public interest” in naming Pathway - pointing out there was no “wrongdoing” by the organisation in relation to the recidivist offender.

Pathway is a registered charity that delivers reintegration services to prisoners as part of its philosophy of “supporting the most vulnerable in the community”.

It had been working with Brider - known to be “a high-risk offender with complex needs” - in prison since June 2021 as part of an intensive rehabilitation programme.

The organisation was granted permanent suppression in the High Court at Christchurch in December 2022 meaning its name could not be published in connection with Brider.

The Herald and Stuff then successfully appealed that decision in the Court of Appeal.

Pathway appealed further to the Supreme Court - which also ruled in favour of the media and declined to hear the charity’s case.

Pathway reintegration spokesperson Anaru Baynes issued a statement following the suppression decision:

“Pathway remains deeply shocked and saddened by the death of Juliana Bonilla-Herrera, who lost her life... at the hands of Joseph Brider, a participant in one of our reintegration programmes.

“More than two years on, our deepest sympathies and condolences remain with her family and friends.”

Baynes said Pathway was working with Brider before and after his release from prison - providing support “designed to lessen their chances of reoffending” and help him “rebuild” his life.

“Joseph Brider betrayed Pathway’s values, everyone who was involved in his rehabilitation and the community, by committing a deplorable crime,” said Baynes.

“While Joseph Brider chose not to make a genuine fresh start, there are many men and women re-entering our community from prison every year, and they benefit from practical support in order to reverse the cycle of reoffending many are caught in. "

Herrera, 37, died in January 2022 after Brider broke into her Addington flat while she slept.

An app she used to record noise captured much of Brider’s brutal attack.

He physically and sexually assaulted Herrera and stabbed her to death.

Brider had been released on parole - after being refused five times - with strict conditions including GPS monitoring and a curfew.

He moved into a flat adjoining Herrera’s on Grove St and within days became obsessed with her.

Juliana Herrera was 37 when she died. She had moved to New Zealand from Colombia. Photo / Supplied

He was sentenced to life in prison with preventive detention.

Justice Eaton described the offending against Herrer as brutal, cruel, callous, depraved and sadistic.

Further, he said Brider had not shown any remorse or empathy and was undoubtedly a significant and “very real” danger to women.

The Parole Board had refused to release Brider on multiple occasions and only agreed to do so - shortly before his sentence end date - so they could impose conditions and put monitoring in place.

That monitoring - including GPS tracking and a curfew - fell to Corrections once Brider was living outside the wire.

After Brider was sentenced Corrections released the findings of a review into his management.

It determined the actions of Corrections’ staff “neither caused nor could have prevented this offending”, however, “a number of steps” have been taken strengthen its processes.

Brider was sentenced in February 2023 and the same day the Parole Board released details of an independent review into his release.

Corrections released its review findings in March 2023.

Joseph Brider is sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch for murder. Photo / John Kirk-Anderson/ Pool

Justice Eaton had made the suppression order in December 2022 - before the reviews were available.

Pathway’s chief executive and co-founder Murray Kennedy told the court that over 24 years the organisation had “built an extensive and diverse programme of charitable work in Canterbury, focusing on support for some of the community’s most vulnerable groups and seeking to break the cycle of poverty and violence”.

He said Pathway operated a number of social enterprise businesses which employ members of the general public and also some ex-inmates.

Brider was working one of these when he murdered Herrera.

Kennedy said Pathway’s entities and programmes were not government-funded and it relied on the “community’s trust and goodwill” to “generate income through social enterprises and charitable contributions without having to rely on conventional funding support”.

He believed that publishing Pathway’s name would “severely undermine Pathway’s hard-earned trust and community engagement, in turn jeopardising its important work”.

Further, the association with Brider’s offending “will directly affect other, successful, participants in the initiative” he was participating in.

Kennedy acknowledged the public concern about the “lack of information provided” to Herrera about Brider living next door.

But he emphasised that Pathway was not responsible for decisions about disclosure to neighbours - that was a matter for the Parole Board and Corrections when setting release conditions.

Justice Eaton accepted the grounds Kennedy made for hardship to Pathway when making his decision.

Public interest - Herald appeals permanent suppression order

The Herald took the matter to the Court of Appeal - applying to overturn Justice Eaton’s suppression order.

The media appeal was successful and in November Justice Eaton’s suppression order was quashed.

In the Court of Appeal decision Justice Forrest Miller said he was satisfied that the “shocking” nature of Brider’s offending was “likely to give rise to a real and substantial risk commercial partners will be compelled to disassociate from Pathway and its entities”.

He also acknowledged the “likelihood that publicity will spark a disproportionate and emotive response that fails to reflect the distinction between a connection with the offender and connection with the offending”.

“Pathway has no connection with Mr Brider’s offending,” he said.

“We have more information than did the Judge about Pathway’s involvement with Mr Brider before his release and the details of the decision to release him to Pathway accommodation.

“It seems Justice Eaton was not asked to delay a decision on permanent suppression until sentencing, or until the Parole Board and Corrections had completed their inquiries.

“The information which we now have indicates that the decision to make a permanent suppression order was at least premature.”

Juliana Herrera died in January after a man allegedly entered her Christchurch home and attacked her. Photo / Supplied

Court of Appeal : ‘No sufficient reason’ for permanent suppression order

Justice Miller said Justice Eaton was “influenced by the absence of evidence that Pathway had done anything that might warrant criticism”.

However, the principle of open justice did not depend on Pathway being at fault.

“We accept that decisions about Mr Brider’s accommodation, his release conditions and public notification ultimately rested with Corrections and the Parole Board,” he said.

“There may very well be nothing for which Pathway should be held accountable. But there is still a clear public interest in Pathway’s role, arising from its involvement in Corrections processes and its work with Mr Brider.

“The Judge might have reached the same view, had he the benefit of the independent reviews.”

Justice Jonathan Eaton.

Justice Miller agreed that publishing Pathway’s name may impact funding and support.

However, he was satisfied that any publication by the Herald and Stuff following the appeal would “offer a balanced perspective which recognises Pathway’s bona fides and track record of success”.

He said the only question for the Court of Appeal was “whether there was sufficient reason to make the permanent order in the first place”.

“We have found that there was not,” he said.

“The appeal is allowed. The order suppressing publication of the name of the Pathway Trust and the related entities is set aside.”

Pathway then took its case to the Supreme Court - where the Crown also opposed ongoing suppression.

In an application for a further appeal lawyers for Pathway argued that the Court of Appeal “erred” by considering public interest and “fundamentally misunderstood its functions and role” in connection to Brider.

They also said the Court “incorrectly concluded” that Pathway’s potential hardship was not disproportionate to the interests supporting publication.

The country's highest court has backed a media appeal against a permanent suppression order for a charity that housed a rapist on parole who went on to murder his neighbour. Photo / NZME

No appeal - NZ’s highest court’s final decision

After assessing the submissions from Pathway, media and Crown - as well as the earlier judicial decisions - Supreme Court Justices Susan Glazebrook, Ellen France and Stephen Kos dismissed the application.

The judges said the proposed appeal raised “no matter of general or public importance”.

“Nor do we consider there is any evident risk of a substantial miscarriage of justice,” they said.

“The Court of Appeal was well aware of the differences between the roles of Pathway and of the Department of Corrections and the Parole Board in connection to (Brider) but ultimately concluded that this did not displace the legitimate public interest in the (Pathway’s) involvement, which existed independently of any wrongdoing.

“The Court of Appeal accepted that decisions about Mr Brider’s accommodation, his release conditions and public notification ultimately rested with Corrections and the Parole Board, and that there may very well be nothing for which (Pathway) should be held accountable.

“However it found there still a ‘clear public interest’ in (Pathway’s) role, arising from its involvement... and its work with Mr Brider.

“We consider (Pathway) has insufficient prospects of establishing the Court of Appeal erred in reaching these conclusions.

“It follows that we are not satisfied it is necessary in the interests of justice for this Court to hear and determine the appeal - (Pathway’s) prospects of success before us being too remote to justify that course.

“The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.”

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz