Sex crime monster harassed victim from prison

Prisoners are not allowed to call their victims. Photo / Janna Dixon

A violent sex offender stabbed his nephew while on bail - and was later allowed to call him repeatedly from prison in a bid to intimidate him into changing his evidence.

The Corrections Department has launched an investigation into how the 27-year-old was allowed to harass the 16-year-old after being arrested for sexually abusing and assaulting the teen since he was 10.

He was last month sentenced to 19 years and six months in prison with a minimum non-parole period of nine and a half years.

The man was earlier convicted of 18 charges relating to offences against his nephew and niece.

They included sexual violation of a child under 12, rape, causing grievous bodily harm and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The abuse against the nephew included beating him with a cord and a hammer.

The man cannot be named to protect his victims.

In sentencing him in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Christopher Allan noted the defendant called the nephew more than 10 times from Auckland Central Remand Prison a month before his trial late last year.

He was remanded in custody because he had viciously attacked the boy in Auckland in 2009.

He embedded a 10cm knife blade in his lung and neck to prevent him testifying on the sex and assault matters.

Conditions of his bail included that he was not to associate with his victim.

Corrections Department deputy chief executive Christine Stevenson said police had asked for the victim's number to be removed from the prisoner's approved phone list but department staff had failed to act.

"The department apologises unreservedly for this."

She said an investigation had been launched into the matter.

The man also wrote to the boy from inside prison last October detailing how he should give evidence when he took the stand against his abuser.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins said she would call for a briefing from ministry staff.

"Prisoners should not be able to make unwelcome calls to people on the outside and there are procedures in place to make sure that doesn't happen."

Auckland University law professor Warren Brookbanks said the calls were a clear abuse of the privilege prisoners have to use phones to prepare their defence.

"And maybe that suggests that the protocols for monitoring phone calls are not adequate."

All calls from prisons are recorded and some outgoing letters are checked.

Brookbanks said preventing offending by prisoners on bail was less straightforward.

When considering bail applications, courts had to look carefully at the number and seriousness of previous convictions.

In this case, the offender had come from Samoa and his background was unknown.

Brookbanks said there was no arrangement between jurisdictions to share criminal records and New Zealand courts relied on offenders to declare them.

It is unknown if the man in this case had previous convictions from Samoa.

"The person would have to disclose it. It's hard to think how we could get hold of that information if that person has come from overseas."

Justice Minister Simon Power last week launched a discussion paper with proposals for tightening the criteria for bail.

CONVICTS WHO HAVE OFFENDED WHILE ON BAIL

* 2010: One of six men involved in the robbery and murder of South Auckland liquor store owner Navtej Singh is sentenced to nine months in prison for obtaining a gun, stealing a car and leading a high-speed police chase while on bail.

* 2006: Fanuaea Leatigaga sexually assaults three woman, including one pregnant woman, while on bail for raping a teenager only two weeks earlier. The teenager later takes her own life.

* 2005: Michael John Curran murders 2-year-old Aaliyah Morrissey in Tauranga while on bail for the killing of Natasha Hayden in the lower Kaimai Ranges eight months earlier.

* 2004: Jesse Moore murders Otaki woman Lorraine Royal while on bail for the serious assault of a workmate two days earlier.

* 2004: Anthony Mark Smolenski rapes, indecently assaults and threatens to kill a Tauranga woman while on bail for the indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl.

* 2001: Mario George Lilley rapes an 18-year-old while on bail for attacking a 41-year-old man in Hamilton.