By SCOTT INGLIS
As Steven Slavich drove towards his hometown of Paeroa, he saw two youths whose car had run out of petrol.
The 35-year-old father of three stopped and offered them a ride in his red Fairmont.
Mr Slavich was a well-known farmer with a reputation as a good-spirited, generous man. It was only natural he would help.
But once he resumed driving along State Highway 26, one of the youths repaid his kindness by shooting him three times with a 9mm Luger pistol.
After the bullets tore into his left arm, shoulder and head, Mr Slavich appears to have tried to get out of the car, but his arm became tangled with his seatbelt.
One of the youths, Shane Rogers, climbed into the front seat, grabbed the steering wheel and sped off, dragging Mr Slavich along the road for 5km, reaching speeds of more than 100 km/h.
Rogers then freed Mr Slavich's body from the seatbelt before driving off. He was caught that night, Tuesday, February 26, 1991, in Whangarei and charged with murder.
Nine months later, the 16-year-old pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Slavich and was jailed for life. Another youth also charged with the murder walked free on a technicality.
Ten years on, Shane Mitchell Rogers, now in his mid-20s, is eligible for parole and wants to be freed from Waikeria Prison.
He appeared before the Parole Board in December and was turned down, but is due to reappear in June.
Rogers is one of 62 convicted murderers who have appeared or will appear before the board for the first time between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2002. It is unlikely any will be freed first time.
According to Parole Board figures, obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act, convicted murderers in general are expected to make at least 201 parole appearances between those dates.
Offenders sentenced before September 1, 1993, must serve 10 years of their sentence before applying for parole. Those sentenced after that date can have higher minimum non-parole periods imposed.
In the same period, 144 offenders convicted of sexual violation have been or will be eligible for release, having served two-thirds of their sentences.
Mr Slavich's widow, Allison, says she and her family want her husband's killer to stay locked up permanently. "He's got to pay - we've got to pay for ever."
Mrs Slavich, who has stayed on the family's Paeroa farm, says her children - son Nick, now 20, and daughters Frana, 23, and Marica, 16 - have suffered terribly.
"Their father's life wouldn't be worth anything if they let him [Rogers] out."
Mrs Slavich and brother-in-law Anthony Slavich are on the victim notification register and are told when Rogers is up before the board and on work release, but little else.
They believe the process should be more open and the community told who is up and when, and what decisions are made.
The parole hearings have put the Slavich family under a lot of strain. "Your heart just goes and it's just like it happened yesterday ... It really does hurt," Mrs Slavich says.
She wrote last November begging the Parole Board to keep Rogers locked up, and she and her brother-in-law intend doing the same again for the June hearing. "When I write the letters," she says, " ... I try to write them from the heart, not from anger."
Rogers has within the past month been on work release at an Orini sawmill. "When he got on work release, it just threw me. He's got a job and I've got a son who hasn't got a job. He's getting all the support in there, and I struggle with mine."
Anthony Slavich, who drives past the spot where his brother was shot each day, agrees and is just starting to come to grips with the tragedy.
The Slavich family is not alone in its beliefs.
Groups made up of the families and friends of murder victims like Auckland journalist Kylie Jones and solo mother Karen Stanley-Hunt have been fighting to keep killers and rapists locked up longer and to make Parole Board hearings more public.
Greg Stenbeck, the father of Kylie Jones' fiance, Aaron, said it was time the victims of violent crime had an opportunity to actually take part in parole hearings.
"If the Parole Board does release a violent and dangerous offender, then the onus should be on them to tell the public why they did so."
Corrections Minister Matt Robson, responsible for Parole Board policy, has ruled out letting the public know who is up for parole and when.
But under the Parole Reform Bill, which has been introduced to replace the Criminal Justice Act, the worst violent criminals are in for a harder time. Those sentenced to life or preventive detention could have to wait up to five years between applications for parole.
Justice Minister Phil Goff has also hit out at the law which allows serious, violent criminals serving two to 15 years to be released after serving two-thirds, describing the automatic early release as stupid.
On the other side of the debate is prison reform campaigner Peter Williams, QC, who believes inmates should be given a second chance and that it would be "absurd" if parole hearings were open to the public.
"There needs to be a dose of sweet reason here, and people need to remember that inmates of prisons are human beings and we can't keep them all inside for ever."
Allison Slavich, at a stage in life where her friends with partners are just realising their dreams, sees if differently.
"They're going overseas, building houses, and I'm still on my own. I don't have those dreams. I'm alone. I've never found anyone like Steven."
Facing the Parole Board
High-profile convicted murderers who have appeared or are appearing for parole for the first time between July 2000 and June 2002. The approximate dates are:
DECEMBER 2000
David Wayne Tamihere, aged 37 at the time of conviction, was jailed for life on December 5, 1990, for the double murder of Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin. Tamihere was found guilty of killing the pair in April 1989. He was arrested on October 10, 1989, after a huge manhunt. Two years later, Mr Hoglin's body was found in bush near Whangamata. Tamihere appeared for the first time before the Parole Board in December last year and was turned down. He will reappear in December.
FEBRUARY 2001
A 13-year-old boy who murdered 23-year-old nurse Rachel Bennett after entering her Newtown flat and stabbing her 15 times on February 1, 1991, was arrested a few days later and in May sentenced to life in jail. His name was suppressed and he was believed to have been the first boy convicted of murder since a law change in 1977 allowed children over 10 to be charged with murder or manslaughter.
APRIL 2001
Anthony Lawrence Roma, aged 25 at time of conviction, of Napier, a paranoid schizophrenic, was found guilty of bashing 7-year-old Simon Brian Reaney to death as he lay in bed on April 14, 1991. He also tried to kill Simon's 10-year-old brother, Michael, and their father, Stephen. Roma was jailed for life in October 1991.
NOVEMBER 2001
Paul David Bailey, aged 27 at time of conviction, admitted raping and murdering Kylie Ann Smith, 15, whom he abducted at gunpoint while she was riding her horse south of Owaka in November 1991. He was arrested 29 hours later and jailed for life in February 1992.
FEBRUARY 2002
Wayne Glenn Tokotahi Paekau, aged 29 at time of conviction, stabbed English tourist Margery Hopegood to death in a public toilet in Hamilton on January 10, 1992. He was jailed for life in April 1992 for murder.
Victims everywhere share widow's pain
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