A serial rapist has been refused parole and his victim has vowed to keep him locked up. Photo / NZH
A serial rapist has been refused parole and his victim has vowed to keep him locked up. Photo / NZH
One of the country's worst serial rapists - who has even admitted an attack on a woman he has never been charged with - will remain in prison for at least another year.
But his most recent victim fears he will never stop harming women and should never be released.
Tavita Tuetue was sentenced to preventive detention in February 2000 after being found guilty of a series of brutal home invasions and rapes of young women in the Christchurch area.
At a parole hearing years later he learned police had linked him by DNA to an unsolved sex crime in 1993.
Tuetue initially denied the offending but confessed in 2014 that he was responsible.
Now aged 63, Tuetue has been in prison for the last 23 years for the repeated attacks.
He has been denied parole a number of times.
At his most recent hearing in May the Parole Board heard he had "completed rehabilitation" and was ready to start his reintegrative phase.
However, one of his victims did not believe the recidivist rapist would or could ever be rehabilitated.
"A leopard cannot change its spots," she told the Herald today.
"Tuetue is a master manipulator and cannot be rehabilitated.
"His offending spanned over 16 years before he was caught – there is no way a short course and a few sessions with a psychologist can 'fix' this appalling predatory behaviour.
"Despite a lifetime of offending and numerous prison sentences, he has shown no sign of tangible change or that he can in fact be rehabilitated."
She described Tuetue's offending as "appalling predatory serial sexual crimes" and said she and the other women who had survived him were deeply affected.
"I have had Tuetue in my life for 32 years and I will keep fighting to ensure he stays in prison where he cannot harm myself or anyone else," she said.
Serial rapist Tavita Tuetue will stay in prison at least one more year. Photo / NZH
Parole Board panel convenor Neville Trendle said that in 2011 Tuetue completed the adult sex offender treatment programme in prison, then followed that with "individual psychological treatment" in 2013.
"And a further seven sessions finishing in January this year that were designed to identify and address offence- related risk factors that were not the primary target of earlier treatment," he said in the parole decision provided to the Herald.
The board heard that Tuetue was currently housed in a low-security unit at Christchurch Men's Prison and worked outside the wire in the timber processing plant.
A recent psychological report outlined Tuetue's "progress" behind bars.
"The psychologist concluded that Mr Tuetue had developed his insight into his past sexual offending and offence paralleling behaviour in prison," Trendle said.
"He was assessed as being in the moderate-high risk band for further sexual offending.
"She was of the view that no further offence-related rehabilitation work was required."
A safety plan for the repeat offender had been "refined" and he was said to have an "apparent good understanding" of it.
He proposed to live in supported accommodation if released and was committed to abiding by release conditions.
His lawyer told the board that Tuetue had completed "significant work on understanding his feelings and emotions".
"(He has) come to a place where he unequivocally acknowledged what had happened in his past and was in a position where it would not happen again in the future," said Trendle.
"He had engaged in working outside the wire and was now well placed to return to the community.
The board also heard from the victim who spoke to the Herald.
Trendle acknowledged she was of the view that her attacker "was not capable of change or rehabilitation".
"Nor was there any evidence of remorse on his part," he said.
"She retained concerns for her personal safety and the safety of other women Given his extensive predatory sexual offending history, she was of the view that he would return to offending if he were to be released."
Trendle said the victim's views were put to Tuetue.
"He responded acknowledging the hurt he had perpetrated on all of his victims," Trendle revealed.
"He told us that he was unable to directly express his remorse to them but he had endeavoured to demonstrate it by completing everything on his sentence plan to address his offending.
"That was reflected in his completion of the Adult Sex Offender Treatment Programme and the individual treatment he had been undertaking."
However, the board said Tuetue was not ready for parole.
"The (release) plan is not of sufficient robustness to adequately manage his release from prison so as to satisfy us that he would not pose an undue risk to the safety of the community and in particular, adult women," he said.
"His support network is not of sufficient depth, nor is there the structure that the board would expect to support someone with his risk profile returning to the community.
"In brief, the plan falls well short of providing for Mr Tuetue's safe transition to the community.
"There is much more to be done before we could be satisfied that he met the statutory criteria for release on parole."
Tuetue will remain in prison until at least his next parole hearing in 12 months.
The victim vowed to keep fighting to keep him locked up.
"It continues to take an emotional and physical toll of my life as I have made submissions to the board every year since he has become eligible for parole 10 years ago," she told the Herald.
"He needs to stay in prison to keep myself, my family and the wider community safe.
"He is an extremely dangerous, and manipulative recidivist sexual offender."
The woman said claims Tuetue had been rehabilitated were "nonsense".
"He has done what he has been told to do to get out and prison and no more," she said.
"I believe we are yet to expose the true extent of Tuetue's appalling offending."
She feared for her and other women due to what happened when he attacked her
"Threats to kill me were made at the time of the home invasion and subsequent rape, and a truly believe if he is released he will make good on his threats – afterall, I have been the one fighting for him to stay in prison for the last 10 plus years," she said.
"I believe he is a very real danger to both myself and the wider community."
SEXUAL HARM - DO YOU NEED HELP?
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone contact the Safe to Talk confidential crisis helpline on:
