Bentley: Killers freed too soon

Home invasion victim Peter Bentley wants the Parole Board to be disbanded in the wake of paroled killer Graeme Burton's bloody rampage in the Wellington hills.



The Sensible Sentencing Trust member says the board drastically underestimated the potential for Burton to reoffend.

The 35-year-old allegedly shot and killed a quadbiker on Saturday and three others were wounded before police cornered him and shot him in the leg. The leg had to be amputated.

Burton was paroled six months ago. He breached parole earlier this month and had since been on the run, attacking a man and then three teenagers in their homes before the weekend's incident.

Burton's flight and violence proved the ineffectiveness of the board, Mr Bentley said.

"I realise [the board members] are all pillars of society and are trying to do the best job they can, but the best people to make the judgments on whether someone is fit to re-enter society are the wardens and doctors and other people who look after them and try and rehabilitate them in prison. It should be their call.



"We should also improve our attempts to rehabilitate [inmates]. We have not exactly got a successful track record there."



One of Mr Bentley's attackers, Desmond Eru, was granted home detention from January 15, despite opposition from his victims. Eru had been sentenced in May to 23 months' jail, after pleading guilty to burglary and being an accessory after the fact of an aggravated robbery of the Bentleys' rural home in 2004.



For the mother of murdered Rotorua woman Tanya Burr, Burton's rampage was a chilling reminder of the increasing randomness of violent attacks in New Zealand.

"It's very close to home emotionally," Val Burr said. "You can be minding your own business at home and suddenly you are dead."

In 2002 Tanya was stabbed 15 times with a carving knife after 17-year-old John Wharekura knocked on her front door, asking to borrow a pen and paper.

"The kid who killed Tanya will be out when he will be 29 or 30. He will still be in his prime and just as lethal.

"It's a cliche, but life should mean life ... I would hate to get a call 20 years down the track telling me [Wharekura] had killed somebody else."

The Burton affair has seen a surge in support for the Sensible Sentencing Trust and spokesman Garth McVicar said most people blamed the Parole Board but the trust said it was the legislation that was at fault.

"The Parole Board have just been puppets. Guys like Burton who have a lot of previous convictions have made this a lifestyle choice ... Prison is where they want to be so grant them their wish and leave them there rather than risk letting them hurt the innocent public."







Burton, 35, was granted parole in June last year after serving 14 years for the murder of Paul Anderson outside a Wellington nightclub in 1992. The Parole Board noted he had been a model prisoner for the two years leading up to his release. It was a marked change from his earlier behaviour - Burton and three other prisoners escaped from maximum security prison Paremoremo in 1998.



Glenys Buchanan, who has known Burton since he was 3, said he had wanted to have a "really good try" at going straight. She last saw him in August, when he was studying at polytechnic.

He breached his bail conditions in October and last month, and Ms Buchanan said she did not believe he was well supported. The Parole Board had suggested supervised visits with her prior to his release, which she had agreed to - but they had never eventuated.

"To my mind, anybody who has been incarcerated for 14 years literally has to come out and test the water first, find out just what life is ... it didn't happen."

- additional reporting NZPA