Posted on 01/20/2007 6:52:35 PM PST by DieHard the Hunter
The mother of slain south Auckland pizza delivery man Michael Choy says her son's teenage killer is still a menace and danger to society and should not be released from prison.
Bailey Junior Kurariki was 12 when he and five other young people killed Michael Choy in September 2001.
A parole board is due to meet tomorrow morning in Auckland to hear an application for the release of New Zealand's youngest convicted killer.
Michael Choy's mother Rita Croskery said today she was worried the parole board was under political pressure from the Minister of Corrections to release more prisoners.
"I don't blame the parole board but the Minister of Corrections has made it clear he wants the prison population decreased."
Mrs Croskery, who will make a submission at tomorrow's hearing, said she did not believe Kurariki had been in prison long enough to be rehabilitated.
" Four years, five including remand, is not long enough for a young kid who has not had a decent education.
"He has not had the benefits of what's in prison."
Mrs Croskery said she doubted Kurariki would get the support or help he needed from family or friends if he was released.
"He needs to grow up a bit but some people can't be rehabilitated."
Mrs Croskery said she understood Kurariki was hard to control in prison and was not ready to be released.
"He's still a danger to society, a real conman."
Kurariki had been on the streets since he was eight years and continued to be a menace, she said.
"It would be hard to see someone like that out in the community, coercing and influencing others and devastating other families."
Mrs Croskery said she had no contact with Kurariki or his family and did not want contact.
Her actions were motivated by justice and not out of revenge, she said.
The parole board hearings, of which this is the second for Kurariki, were particularly hard, she said.
"I have nightmares, we get no peace, there's no let-up."
Mrs Croskery said legislation surrounding convicted violent killers needed to change.
"Parole should not be given to those violent offenders."
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said today said a major overhaul of the parole system was needed.
The hearing came at a time when parole board decisions were attracting more attention, he said.
Kurariki should be made an example of for the future of the country, he said.
The parole board needed to send out a clear message about Kurariki particularly as there were a lot of cases involving young offenders, he said.
Along with a few older friends, he was involved in luring a mentally-challenged pizza driver to an address, and baseball-batting him to death. The reason? To steal his pizzas: which they promptly ate while the critically injured pizza guy died.
Imagine having this gem take your teenage daughter on a date. In NZ it could happen, real soon...
Sounds like here in Ohio. All sorts of scumbag juveniles are released to prey upon us again. It's not just NZ. It's Western civilization committing suicide.
> Sounds like here in Ohio. All sorts of scumbag juveniles are released to prey upon us again. It's not just NZ. It's Western civilization committing suicide.
I do not understand the rationale behind "Parole", nor behind excluding "Punishment" and "Protection of Society" from being a legitimate outcome of our corrections systems.
When did it become more desirable to "Rehabilitate" an offender than to "Punish" an offense? And why? Whose pointy-headed Idea was that? When did we get to vote on that?
As you rightly say, this is surely Societal suicide.
Rehabilitation is a joke. The prison system here is called the "Department of Rehabilitation and Correction."
HA! Prison. That's what the libs call "rehabilitation."
Our entire penal system is in need of immediate remedial reform, to quote the department of redundancy department. There is nothing cruel or unusual about swift corporal punishment, timely public execution for capital offenses, and the reintroduction to those who are truely evil to 'dancing in hemp'.
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