KEY POINTS:
Convicted criminal John Gillies has been told he cannot be considered for parole until he undergoes drugcounselling.
Gillies, 36, was jailed for seven years in 2005 for assaulting two policemen and for possessing cocaine and methamphetamine. He has 106 convictions, 34 of them for violence, including the 1993 screwdriver stabbing of Gisborne policeman Nigel Hendrikse.
The Dominion Post reported that the Parole Board had refused Gillies' latest application, saying he had a serious and substantial criminal history.
The board, headed by Judge Raymond Kean, said Gillies' latest offending was committed while on parole. His early release was unlikely until he had addressed his drug addiction.
Gillies told the board that he believed almost all his offending was related to drug use and said he hoped to be admitted to a prison treatment programme. The board supported his attempts to join and suggested future parole applications were likely to fail unless counselling was successfully completed.
Gillies was one of four Mongrel Mob members awarded compensation and an apology from the Crown in 2000 after they said they were tortured and abused by guards at Hawkes Bay's Mangaroa Prison in 1991 and 1993.
The Crown Law Office, acting under an Official Information Act request, said the total amount paid did not exceed $325,000.
- NZPA
