James Wallace: Arts patron continues to deny offending and is barred from inviting guests to home

Disgraced arts patron James Wallace continues to deny his offending and has been barred from inviting guests to his home as part of his prison release conditions.

The 85-year-old had his second parole hearing last week and will be released from prison on December 11, according to his lawyer, David Jones, KC.

Today, the Parole Board released its written decision to the Herald which said Wallace has been assessed by a psychologist as a low risk of sexual re-offending and a low risk generally of offending.

Wallace was sentenced to a prison term of two years and four months in May 2021 after being convicted of indecently assaulting three men at his Auckland mansion and twice attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to dissuade a victim from giving evidence against him.

“We spent some time talking with Mr Wallace about his high-risk situations and a variety of possible release conditions which we thought appropriate,” the Parole Board’s decision reads.

“The key point for someone like Mr Wallace, who is a denier, in the preparation of a safety plan is, as we have said to him, to turn the issue around the other way and identify what he needs to do to prevent himself from being the subject of what he views as false complaints. And, so, after some discussion, that risk seemed to reduce itself primarily to Mr Wallace not having the opportunity to meet young men who might have been seeking his help and support.”

At September’s first hearing, the philanthropist said it would be “a lie if I said I was now guilty just to get home”.

In granting parole for Wallace, who was earlier stripped of his knighthood, the board said there should be a number of “additional special conditions” which would control Wallace’s opportunity to sexually offend again.

“It is therefore only on the basis of the special conditions that we impose that we have concluded he is no longer an undue risk. And so the conditions are designed to ensure he will not have the opportunity to offend in the way that occurred with respect to his offending.”

James Wallace's Epsom mansion Rannoch, where his sexual offending occurred.

Wallace will be subject to a monitoring hearing in May next year, the board said.

A reintegration meeting after his release will also “be very important because the situation with Mr Wallace is somewhat complex”, the board said.

“We think a full review of how he is to be managed on parole will be vital.”

The board also intended to impose a condition to ensure Wallace lives only at a specific address, which was publicly withheld in the decision.

“The purpose of doing so is related to another special condition we intend to impose restricting visitors to his residence. Mr Wallace will be obliged each night to stay at [the home]. While that will limit his ability to go to Christchurch, he can still travel there and return the same day. This is to ensure that the conditions limiting visitors to his residence can be assured for each day of each week.”

Wallace, who had an estimated net worth of about $170 million, has said upon his release he had a “great project” ahead of him with the multimillion-dollar restoration of Christchurch’s McLean’s Mansion, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquakes. He has funded the efforts to turn the property into an arts and community centre.

A final restriction for Wallace, the parole board said, related to visitors to his address.

“No other persons should be admitted to the residence. Mr Wallace is not entitled to approve visitors. They will keep a log noting who the visitor is and the time of the visit. That log should be available for inspection by the Probation Service.

“That will ensure that Mr Wallace is never placed into the situation where he is able to sexually assault a visitor to his house. This provision is fundamental in our view to reducing his risk by eliminating, as well as we are able, the opportunity for offending.”

One of Wallace’s victims was working for him and living at his Epsom mansion, named Rannoch, at the time of the offending.

A victim of Wallace’s, author and lawyer Dom Shaheen, earlier told the Herald he had assumed the patron would be granted parole because of his age.

“I’m not surprised at the result. For me, this truly feels like the beginning of the end of this whole ordeal.”

Shaheen believed the former rich lister will attempt to use philanthropy to rehabilitate his image.

“Any charity who chooses to work with him needs to understand that a relationship with him will have the opposite effect on their reputation.”

Another victim, Dudley Benson, took to social media after the parole decision, saying, “This is part of the reason I left Aotearoa.”

James Wallace at the Auckland District Court in March 2019. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Many of New Zealand’s leading institutions have now distanced themselves from Wallace, who was first charged in 2017.

The Herald on Sunday also earlier revealed that some of New Zealand’s biggest names in film, art and classical music wrote 89 letters of support for Wallace during his sentencing, many of which lauded his financial support for the sector.

Wallace was knighted in 2011 for services to the arts. However, outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed King Charles III had cancelled Wallace’s knighthood in August. The Government began the process of stripping Wallace of his knighthood when his name suppression lapsed.

After a lengthy legal battle to maintain name suppression, which was opposed by the Herald and Stuff, Wallace was finally named in June with the delivery of a Supreme Court judgment refusing anonymity.

Rannoch’s house manager, Mustafa Erinc Yikar, was convicted alongside Wallace for attempting to bribe the victim in what became known as the “Gold Coast plot”.

The efforts, which employed the services of PR consultant Jevan Goulter, occurred at the five-star Palazzo Versace hotel in Australia in late May 2017.

Entertainer Mika X, also known as Mika Haka, also pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice over the scheme and another ploy and was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention.

Sam Hurley is a news director and senior reporter. He joined the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked for 1News and Hawke’s Bay Today. He has been investigating Sir James Wallace since 2018.