Johnathan Andrew Smallbon. Photo / Christchurch Star
Johnathan Andrew Smallbon. Photo / Christchurch Star
The Parole Board will not be releasing one of the country's worst sex offenders who subjected other males to horrific attacks here and in Australia - and will not see him again for three years.
And it has been revealed that behind bars the dangerous man is aggressive and has assaulted both inmates and guards.
Johnathon Andrew Smallbon was sentenced to preventive detention by consent in 2007 after he admitted a brutal 17-hour attack on a 24-year-old man in Christchurch.
Smallbon was being monitored by police at the time as he was considered a high risk of reoffending.
He had been deported from Australia six months earlier after serving seven years in prison for sex attacks on two young men aged 14 and 16 in Sydney.
He moved into a boarding house in mid-2006 in December, lured his 24-year-old neighbour into his room under the premise of helping move furniture.
Smallbon held a knife to the man and tied him up on the bed using 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.
"He needs to follow that same pathway of ... continuing to prepare himself for the Kia Marama programme.
"He also needs drug and alcohol treatment in prison.
"We are satisfied, given that he has significant work to do before he is even ready to consider rehabilitation programmes, that it is an appropriate case to make a postponement order."
"We are satisfied given the above information that, without significant change Mr Smallbon is unlikely to be suitable for release on parole during the next three years.
"We will therefore see him in three years' time by the end of November 2022.
At his first hearing in 2015 Smallbon told the board that he did not want to be released.
"He feels at risk to others," the board said at the time.
Smallbon has a history of violent and sexual offending against other males - starting when he was 15.
"It involved kidnapping, detaining the victim at knifepoint, forced sex and strangulation ... Some were known to him; others were complete strangers."
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.
When Johnathan Smallbon was in police custody in Australia for attacks on two young men he told psychologist Geoffrey Ballard anger over his sexual orientation led to years of loneliness and unhappiness - and ultimately his offending against other males.
The insight into Smallbon's mind is revealed in New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal reports.
Smallbon had been brought up in North Canterbury and attended Swannanoa School before moving to Rangiora.
Then he went to Australia, where his father lived, in 1995.
Smallbon left school in Year 9 and from the age of 16 was using marijuana and drinking heavily.
He also claimed that a friend his own age initiated sexual contact with him, leading him to attempt suicide three times.
Ballard's report reveals he said that he was a homosexual, and could not be open about his sexual orientation as he had been brought up to believe that it was wrong.
He admitted he wanted to experiment sexually with men, but said his primary motivation was to release his anger.
Ballard 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," he said.
On July 2, 1998, Smallbon appeared in court for the first time on charges of kidnapping, indecent assault, committing acts of indecency with a person under 16 and assault causing bodily harm.
His victim was a 16-year old youth who approached Smallbon's Sydney house collecting for the Arthritis Foundation.
Smallbon grabbed the boy and held a knife to his throat, pulling him inside the house.
He assaulted the boy and forced him to smoke cannabis and to perform sexual acts. He forced him to the floor, tied him up and choked him.
Ballard said for a long time Smallbon had fought against his sexual orientation and gender identity.
"He has a sense of shame, guilt and low self esteem, living his life in isolation. Gender disorder has resulted in anger and aggression leading to criminal offences," he said.
Smallbon had turned to drugs to escape the reality of his isolated and "very tortured" life.
