Child sex abuser awarded $25,000

A convicted paedophile has been awarded $25,000 damages for invasion of his privacy after police alerted people in his neighbourhood to his presence.

Barry Brown - who has convictions for sexual offences dating back to 1982 - sued police in Wellington District Court for $80,000.

He was identified in 2001 after he was released from a five-year sentence for kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 5-year-old boy.

Police circulated leaflets including his photograph, physical description and information about his criminal past to residents of Strathmore, Wellington.

Mr Brown's lawyer, Dale La Hood, yesterday issued a statement on behalf of his client, who, he said, was pleased with the decision in which his right to privacy was upheld.

"The aftermath of the leaflet drop resulted in great hardship to him both physically and mentally," Mr La Hood said.

"To this day he is recognised and abused on the streets by strangers."

Last September, the police officer who outed Mr Brown, Inspector Peter Cowan, told the Wellington District Court he did so because a visit to the man's flat caused him grave concern.

"I was very concerned that his location was totally inappropriate, and I could not understand why he had been put there."

Nearby there were schools, playgrounds, a playcentre and reasonably dense shrub.

Mr Cowan said it would have been catastrophic if Mr Brown had reoffended, and police would have been criticised if they had not notified the community.

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar described the decision as "absolutely crazy".

"But it doesn't surprise me. We're giving compensation to criminals so we may as well to sex offenders too.

"I hope police don't become too disheartened by this. If the safety of the community is the most important aspect of law and order, that's absolute rubbish if police are getting prosecuted for doing things like that.

"There's definitely a law change that needs to be made to give police the right to out sex offenders, and I still encourage them to do that."

Mr La Hood said that although Mr Brown was pleased that his hardship had been recognised by an award of compensation, the case was not just about money - it was about making those responsible realise that this was not the right way to approach the difficult issue of the release of sex offenders into the community.

"It can only be hoped that the public take the right message from this decision, namely that the law is there to protect everyone, not just those whom the majority consider to be deserving of its protection.

"Whilst Mr Brown must accept that he has created victims in his past, in this case he was the victim."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said last night he supported Mr Cowan's actions.

"There are dangerous people out there.

"If the people of Kilbirnie hadn't been warned and been offended against, I wonder if they would have had something to say, and the police would have come under considerable criticism."

-Derek Cheng, NZPA