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Disgraced arts patron James Wallace is set to walk out of prison today after being granted parole.
The 85-year-old first sought and was refused parole in September, where he continued to deny his offending and show no remorse.
He was granted parole in November, with the Parole Board confirming he was due to finish serving his time behind bars today.
Wallace, who had an estimated net worth of about $170 million, was found guilty of indecently assaulting three male victims at his home in the early 2000s, 2008 and 2016.
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.
He must follow special conditions as part of his parole which the board said would be fundamental in eliminating any opportunity to reoffend.
Conditions include not allowing visitors who haven’t been approved by three people.
James Wallace was set to leave jail today. Photo / Sam Hurley
“That will ensure that Mr Wallace is never placed into the situation where he is able to sexually assault a visitor to his house,” the decision said. “This provision is fundamental in our view to reducing his risk by eliminating as well as we are able the opportunity for offending.”
The decision also said Wallace was required to stay at the same address each night and not to have communication with his co-offenders, Mika X and Mustafa Erinc Yikar.
“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,” the decision said.
“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.”
One of Wallace’s victims, author and lawyer Dom Shaheen, told the Herald in July 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.
“I’m disappointed that, once again, it’s the media who notified me about the Parole Board’s decision. I did attempt to register as a victim earlier this year but was informed I was applying too late even though that was months before Wallace’s first parole hearing. It felt and still feels odd to me, as though they were putting an arbitrary time limit on my trauma.”
Shaheen, who along with Wallace’s other victims, waived his statutory right to name suppression, said the system for informing victims of updates in cases “needs some improvement”.
Shaheen beleived the former rich lister would attempt to use philanthropy to rehabilitate his image.
“Any charity who chooses to work with him needs to understand that a relationship will 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”.
At September’s first hearing, the philanthropist said it would be “a lie if I said I was now guilty just to get home”.
An agitated Wallace had also suggested that by the time today’s hearing occurred, “I won’t be alive”.
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.
Wallace was knighted in 2011. 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.
The Herald on Sunday also earlier revealed 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.
David Jones KC, Wallace’s lawyer, had earlier told the Parole Board the patron still “has people who trust him” and he wants to continue his philanthropy.
At Wallace’s first Parole Board hearing, the panel said it wanted to see more safety and support planning, which may include talking to a psychologist, before he could be released.
Wallace has said he is no longer a risk of further sexual offending.
Wallace said upon his release he had a “great project” ahead of him with the multi-million 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.
James Wallace in the Auckland District Court in March 2019. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The 2016 victim was working for Wallace and living at his Epsom mansion, named Rannoch, at the time.
Despite being sentenced to prison, Wallace was released on bail a short time later to Rannoch pending his appeals, which were dismissed earlier this year.
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.
