Rawiri Parole Possibility A Pure Outrage

ACT Justice Spokesman Stephen Franks today joined other Opposition MPs in slamming the Parole Board's attitude toward victims and their families - but said the real issue is why Casie Rawiri, who helped rob Michael Choy, is eligible for parole already.

"For Mr Choy's mother to be prevented from knowing when this offender will face the Parole Board is deplorable. But any focus on changing the Board's attitude is hopeless - they are stuck with the law, however courteous they may be to Rita Croskery. The real outrage is that she has to face the Board over and over, years before the court sentence expires," Mr Franks said.

"Why should any victim hear a four-and-a-half year sentence, then find the convict could be out even before the appeals against sentence have been heard?

"Why is Casie Rawiri eligible for parole? Last year, this offender was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for attempted aggravated robbery, and another two-and-a-half years for robbing Michael Choy as he lay dying.

"It is an outrage that, six months after the main sentencing in the court, she is now eligible for parole. What kind of a system is it that tells victims that the sentence will be four-and-a-half years, then leaves them to persuade the Parole Board that it should be the sentence?

"Parole is a failure. It must be abolished and replaced with truth in sentencing, as well as a supervision period for every criminal, starting at the end of the sentence that the court has ordered.

"Truth in sentencing is the least that victims deserve from a system charged with punishing criminals, and the least needed to protect the rest of us - who are lucky enough to have not been hurt yet," Mr Franks said.

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