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A one-armed hitchhiker killer has allegedly breached a condition of his parole after he was kicked out of a rehabilitation centre for not following its rules.
Shane Hoko was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison for the killing of teenage hitchhiker Jennifer Hargreaves in Auckland in December 2001. The sentence was later reduced to a minimum of 15 years on appeal.
Hoko was found guilty at a trial of strangling 17-year-old Hargreaves in a South Auckland ditch.
He pointed a gun at a motorist and his two boys when he tried to help the young woman.
Shane Hoko murdered teenage hitchhiker Jennifer Hargreaves in Auckland in December 2001. Photo / Kenny Rodger
At the time of the killing, Hoko, a Black Power associate, was on parole for detaining a person in a house in Meremere.
Hoko claimed another man killed Hargreaves and left him to take the blame.
Hargreaves was hitchhiking to Invercargill for a reunion with her birth mother’s family when she was picked up by the pair. She was killed in a ditch in Cuff Rd, Patumahoe.
Court documents seen by the Herald allege Hoko was ejected from the accommodation provider he was released to on August 29 for not following the rules of the programme. Attending the rehabilitation centre is one of the special conditions of his parole.
Corrections district manager Katey Gibling told the Herald Corrections had applied to the New Zealand Parole Board to have Hoko recalled to prison.
“When an offender is granted parole by the New Zealand Parole Board, they are required to comply with any conditions imposed by the board. Community Corrections staff actively manage the person’s compliance with these conditions.
“Public safety is our top priority, and if an offender released on parole breaches their conditions, or poses an undue risk to the safety of the community, a probation officer or police officer can apply to the board to have them recalled to continue serving their sentence in prison.”
The Parole Board would determine whether a final recall was granted, which would mean he would remain in prison.
“As this matter remains before the New Zealand Parole Board for their consideration, we are not able to provide any further information.”
A Parole Board spokesman said the board had no comment at this stage.
Jennifer Hargreaves was hitchhiking to Invercargill for a reunion with her birth mother’s family.
During Hoko’s sentencing, Justice Rhys Harrison allowed Hoko to address the court, but Jennifer Hargreaves’ adopted mother, Val, broke down weeping uncontrollably.
As Hoko turned around in the prisoners’ dock to face the back of the crowded court, he said: “My heart goes out to all of yous [sic]. All I can say is, I didn’t do it.”
Justice Harrison said aspects that set the offending apart were its sheer brutality and that it was most likely to be sexually motivated.
Hoko, the judge said, had a lengthy list of previous convictions which were for relatively minor offending, except for a “sinister charge” of kidnapping in 1999 for which he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, reduced to two years by the Court of Appeal.
Outside the court, Jennifer Hargreaves’ adopted father, John Hargreaves, said he found it hard to grasp how a person in jail for a kidnapping offence could be “let out to commit another such crime”.
Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
