Johnathan Andrew Smallbon, seen in court in 2007, will remain in prison for at least three more years following the Parole Board's latest decision. Photo / Christchurch Star
Johnathan Andrew Smallbon, seen in court in 2007, will remain in prison for at least three more years following the Parole Board's latest decision. Photo / Christchurch Star
Johnathan Andrew Smallbon had only been in New Zealand for six months when he lured a man to his room and subjected him to a 17-hour sexual attack.
He had been deported from Australia for similar offending and was being monitored by police who felt he was a high risk to others.
Smallbon was sentenced to preventive detention in 2007 but will remain behind bars until at least September 2027 after being declined parole.
One of the country’s worst high-risk sex offenders will stay in prison for at least three more years after failing to engage either with treatment or the Parole Board.
By the time Johnathan Andrew Smallbon is next considered for parole he will have been in jail for 20 years after kidnapping a 24-year-old man and subjecting him to a 17-hour sexual attack in 2007. The horrific ordeal came just six months after he was deported from Australia for similar offending.
Smallbon was being monitored by police at the time as he was considered a high risk given his significant history of sexual offending in Australia, which started when he was 15 and included seven years in prison for sex attacks in Sydney on two boys aged 14 and 16.
After the 2007 attack in Christchurch, the then 30-year-old was sentenced to an indefinite term of preventive detention. That means he has to stay in prison until the Parole Board determines he can be released safely. Even when that happens he can still be recalled to prison at any time.
Smallbon first became eligible for parole in 2015 but has had little direct engagement with board. He has previously said that he feels at risk to others and does not want to be released.
His latest scheduled appearance before the board was on September 17 but he waived his right to appear, as he did in 2019 and 2022.
According to a decision released today he has not completed the treatment which the board has said he requires – the Special Treatment Unit Programme for child sex offenders, as well as treatment for alcohol and drug issues.
Johnathan Andrew Smallbon, pictured in 2007, has waived his right to appear before the Parole Board on three occasions. Photo / Christchurch Star
Smallbon ‘refused to participate’
“Mr Smallbon’s interactions are very limited,” Parole Board convenor Kathryn Snook said in the decision.
“He has refused contact with his case manager and has refused to participate in psychological treatment or indeed the psychological assessment for this board.”
The report said Smallbon, now 48, was still assessed as at high risk for violent offending and high risk of sexual offending.
“Over the longer term, Mr Smallbon needs to be willing and able to engage with psychological services and then further responsivity work and treatment will follow,” the report said.
“That is currently not expected in the foreseeable future.”
The board said that in the absence of a significant change in Smallbon’s circumstances, he will not be suitable for release for the next three years.
“We strongly encourage Mr Smallbon to appear at the next board hearing. It is very useful for the board to meet with the person who is the subject of the hearing to discuss their concerns about the way forward.”
While in prison in Australia, Smallbon began a sex offender treatment programme but was exited from it because he was aggressive and abusive towards staff and other inmates.
The latest decision says Smallbon still has “some reactiveness” and had been abusive to a nurse in July this year.
Earlier in his current sentence he participated in 65 individual psychological counselling sessions but indicated he had gained “little” from them.
‘A disturbed and confused young man’
According to New South Wales court documents, Smallbon was brought up in North Canterbury and attended Swannanoa School before moving to Rangiora. Then he went to Australia, where his father lived, in 1995.
When Smallbon was in police custody in Australia he told a psychologist that anger over his sexual orientation led to years of loneliness and unhappiness – and ultimately his offending against other males.
He admitted he wanted to experiment sexually with men, but said his primary motivation was to release his anger.
The psychologist said Smallbon had “directed his aggression and violence against a male society with which he desperately wanted to connect, but which, at the same time, he hated”.
“Mr Smallbon has been, and is, a disturbed and confused young man.”
Smallbon was deported from Australia in August 2006.
He returned to Rangiora but soon moved to Christchurch, where his offending began again.
He was living in a boarding house when he lured a man into his room under the premise of helping move furniture. Smallbon then held a knife to the man’s throat as he was leaving before tying him up on the bed with a telephone cord. He cut the victim’s clothes away, gagged him with his own sock and threatened to kill him.
The sexual attack continued for 17 hours and before Smallbon let the man go he throttled him until he could not breathe.
After Smallbon pleaded guilty, the victim said he had a lot of anger towards his attacker and wanted him locked up forever to protect other young men.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
