Parents outraged at rapist's 3-year sentence

The anger welled up inside an Owaka couple as they stood just metres away from their daughter's killer in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.

The parents of murdered Owaka schoolgirl Kylie Smith say Paul David Bailey, 40, has got off lightly for a series of sex crimes committed two years before he raped and murdered their only daughter.

Bevan and Dawn Smith travelled to Christchurch to see Bailey sentenced on three charges of raping a 12-year-old girl between 1989 and 1990.

In November 1991, Bailey raped and murdered Kylie Smith near her Owaka home. He is already serving a term of life imprisonment for that crime.

Yesterday, Bailey was sentenced to three concurrent sentences of three years' imprisonment. It is an outcome that has left the couple questioning the strength of the New Zealand justice system.

Under the new sentence, Bailey would be eligible for parole in just two years but Mr Smith said the Parole Board would be under pressure to keep him under lock and key for the rest of his life.

"Three bloody years ... I can't believe it," he said immediately after the court appearance.

The couple had formed a strong friendship with the victim of Bailey's earlier sex crimes. They were with her in court when Bailey appeared in the dock. Their focus had shifted from anger and hatred toward Bailey to comforting her.

It is understood the victim is pursuing a formal complaint against police for their delays in investigating and charging Bailey with the crimes committed 16 years ago.

The Smiths sat virtually next to the killer during the sentencing.

"We were just two or three metres away from the creep. And he is a creep," Mr Smith said.

"He is just a poor excuse for a man, but we have always known that."

Mr Smith was not sure when Bailey's next Parole Board hearing would be held but he hoped it would be some years away.

- NZPA