KEY POINTS:
It was inevitable that Bailey Junior Kurariki be released one day, and now that day has come.
The poster child for the pack of youths who lured pizza delivery man Michael Choy to his death has had parole refused twice over the years and it appears the Parole Board is only releasing New Zealand's youngest killer now because, quite simply, it has to.
The angel-faced child has become a young man and although his appearance has changed, only time will tell whether his soul has.
At the age of 12, he was convicted of manslaughter for his part in the softball-bat murder of Choy in South Auckland in 2001.
His lawyer appealed against his conviction, arguing that there was insufficient evidence for a manslaughter conviction. The judges ruled otherwise. They said the fact that Kurariki was involved in the preplanning of the robbery, that he knew one of his co-offenders was going to use a softball bat to incapacitate the driver of the pizza delivery car, and that he was the one who called out "Go Alex", the call for his co-offender to attack, all suggested that he knew exactly what he was doing and the level of violence that would be involved in the robbery.
Make no mistake - Kurariki was convicted correctly. So off he went to a youth prison for serious offenders.
And there he has stayed for seven years while the combined expertise of behaviourists, educationists and psychologists worked to transform this child from a law-breaking loser to a worthy and responsible member of society.
It seems it's been a tough battle. Early in his imprisonment, Kurariki was involved in a few fights. Apparently, he thought he was a bit of a star because his was the image most often plastered on the newspapers and broadcast on television. He was jockeying for position within the prison and that created ructions. His applications for home detention and parole were consistently denied and as recently as last July, a psychologist diagnosed Kurariki as being at very high risk of reoffending.
Now, the parole board says Kurariki has made significant progress and that he appears genuine about wishing to live an offence-free life. Really. What a remarkable turnaround in just eight months.
Still, the Parole Board has stated, and it's right, that it's better to release him now and allow for a gradual, structured and controlled reintegration back into society than wait for his release date, unlock the doors and unleash him on the world without any sort of supervision.
His father and three older sisters are keen for him to be home; his dad says he has a job to go to and they'll supply a supportive environment.
Pity they couldn't have done that for him when he was a kid. Where was all this love and concern and family support when Kurariki was roaming the streets like a badly bred dog with the rest of his mongrel mates?
Still, everyone deserves a second chance and Kurariki has his. From being the poster boy for a gang of thugs, he'll become the reluctant poster boy for the efficacy of state intervention. It will be a tough road for him.
One of his supporters, Prison Fellowship director Kim Workman, reckons those who know him don't believe he'll reoffend and that the biggest risk to his successful reintegration will be harassment from the public and the media.
I agree with Workman that he should be left alone. My only wish is that he, in his turn, leaves innocent members of the community - people like Michael Choy - alone.
