Juliana Herrera murder: Corrections ‘strengthen’ community notification policy after Christchurch killing by sex offender

Corrections has strengthened its policy around notifying the community when serious offenders are released from prison - particularly adult sex offenders - following a review sparked by the death of Colombian woman Juliana Herrera in her Christchurch flat.

Herrera, 37, was violated and murdered by Joseph Brider - a convicted rapist who had been released on parole just 72 days earlier.

Brider moved into the unit beside Herrera’s and within days, was obsessed with her.

He later broke into her home while she was asleep, physically and sexually assaulted her and stabbed her to death.

He was sentenced to life in prison with preventive detention.

Joseph Brider is sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch for murder. Photo / John Kirk-Anderson/ Pool

Justice Jonathan Eaton described the offending against Herrer as brutal, cruel, callous, depraved and sadistic.

Further, he said Brider had not shown any remorse or empathy and was undoubtedly a significant and “very real” danger to women.

Brider had been released on parole - after being refused five times - with strict conditions, including GPS monitoring and a curfew.

However, his neighbours had no idea who had moved into their community.

Following Herrera’s death, Corrections carried out a review into its community notification and engagement process.

Juliana Herrera was 37 when she died. She had moved to New Zealand from Colombia.

The review was carried out by clinical psychologist Dr Gwenda Willis, renowned for her expertise in forensic/correctional psychology research and practice.

Willis made seven recommendations in the review aimed at improving how Corrections engages with the community in relation to offenders like Brider when they are released - and which inmates it notifies the public about.

Willis said Corrections needed to adopt a “consistent approach to community engagement across all regions” and provide relevant staff with “specific training”.

Relevant staff are to be provided with specific training in community engagement.

Corrections case manager and probation general manager Darius Fagan said work was “already under way to improve our community notification and engagement processes”.

“Public safety is our top priority and we are committed to making sure our communities feel safe, informed and confident in the work we do,” Fagan said.

“We have significantly changed our referral process for people requiring intensive reintegration services.

“We have expanded our community notification criteria to include more offenders, including adult sex offenders.

“While our previous notification policy predominantly focused on community notification for people who offended against children, we can now notify for people who have committed sexual offences against adults, or general violence assessed with an above-average risk for sexual or violent reoffending.

“Decisions around who and under what circumstances an individual is considered notifiable are complex and assessed on a case-by-case basis.”

Juliana Herrera died in January after a man allegedly entered her Christchurch home and attacked her.

Fagan said when deciding whether to notify a community, Corrections’ primary consideration was “whether this will enhance public safety and help us further manage an offender’s risk”.

“There are times when it isn’t appropriate for us to carry out a notification, especially if previous offending has happened within a family setting, or the survivors are known within a small community,” he explained.

“We must always be confident that any notification will not inadvertently lead to the identification of the victims of crimes and cause them further harm and distress. In making all notification decisions, Corrections staff have to balance this risk with the benefit of providing communities with information.

“We will now carry out this assessment for a wider range of offence types.”

Fagan said Corrections was also providing staff with “additional support and oversight” to ensure they were “well-supported to carry out regular engagement with communities on how we manage offenders”.

“We are also looking at what additional training and guidance can be provided to staff to ensure they actively consider notifying for individuals with convictions for sexual offending against adults or violence, and what the process in these cases might look like.”

Fagan also promised more oversight and collaboration by senior Corrections staff and police to ensure people like Brider were “referred to the appropriate services where their level of risk can be safely managed and public safety upheld”.

“We fully acknowledge that the location of offenders can be a concern for communities, and we work hard to balance this concern with our obligation to safely manage people in the community when they can no longer lawfully be detained in prison,” he said.

Dr Gwenda Willis. Photo / University of Auckland

Willis’ 41-page report was made public today.

It follows the February release of Corrections’ own review into the management of Brider after his release.

That review determined the actions of Corrections staff “neither caused nor could have prevented this offending”.

However, “a number of steps “have been taken to further strengthen” the department’s processes nationwide.

The Parole Board had refused to release Brider on multiple occasions and only agreed to do so - shortly before his sentence end date - so they could impose conditions and put monitoring in place.

That monitoring - including GPS tracking and a curfew - fell to Corrections once Brider was living outside the wire.