A statement from Kevin McNeil the son of murdered school teacher, Lois Dear. His comments are in response to Kim Workman of the Rethinking Crime & Punishment Group's unjustified attack on Rita Croskery in a story by Fairfax Digital yesterday (printed below Kevin's statement).

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Oh Here We Go Again, A Sequel To The Bail And Parole Board Debacles, Now We Have Kim Workman From The Rethinking Crime And Punishment
Group.

You Will Never Know Rita Croskery's Grief And Hurt, Nor Will You Ever Know The Pain And Grief We All Go Through Daily, Then We Have To Put Up With Government Funded Organisations Like Yours Trying To Convince Us That The Community Doesn't Need To Be Protected From Violent Criminals.

We As Victims Do NOT Get Any State Funded Support Nor Does The Sensible Sentencing Trust. We Speak Out To Help Make Our Country Safer And To Try And Make Our Political Regime Wiser. Sadly Our Government Would Rather Throw Money At You Than Us Without Even Stopping To Ask Who Has The Experience? Who Really Knows?

We All Hope That Effective Support Mechanisms Will Be Put Into Place Once Kurariki Is Released. And That Those Resources Aren't Taken From Another Prisoner Who Needs Sustained Supervision.

Call Me Cynical, But We've All Been 19 Years Old And We Know How Much Living Kurariki Will Want To Do. He Will Want To Go Hard 24/7.

The Bullshit Stops Here Mr Workman! Yes We Have Heard The Same Record Over And Over Again About So-Called 'Low Risk Offenders'.

If You Continue To Claim That Kurariki Is 'Low Risk' You Should Be Prepared To Resign If He Reoffends After Release, Are You?
Will You Be Honest Enough To Say You Were Wrong, Admit You Are Not An Expert And Voluntarily Shut Down Your Tax Payer Funded Programme?
We Welcome Your Response Sooner Rather Than Later.

Kevin McNeil

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MICHAEL FIELD
The mother of a murdered pizza delivery man is being exploited by a politically linked victims lobby group who parade her and re-traumatise, the National director of Prison Fellowship, Kim Workman, claims.

He also slammed allegations by Rita Croskery and the Sensible Sentencing Trust who on Wednesday said the country's youngest ever jailed killer, Bailey Junior Kuariki, was a threat to the nation and should be electronically tagged when he finishes his sentence in September.

"Bailey Junior Kuariki is considered by those who know him, to be an extremely low risk offender," Mr Workman said.

Mrs Croskery's son Michael Choy, was beaten to death in Auckland in 2001 while delivering a pizza. Kurariki, who was 12 at the time and was acting as a look-out during the attack, was convicted of manslaughter and sent to jail for seven years in 2001.

She appeared at a Sensible Sentencing Trust sponsored press conference to say she would not attend a parole board hearing for Kurariki yesterday.
She said she had refused invitations to attend family group conferences where Kurariki wants to apologise.

Mr Workman, whose group has been working with Kurariki, told Fairfax Media the Trust's behaviour was of real concern.

"They are exploiting her.... They parade grieving victims and re-traumatise them, by having them give this story again and again. They discourage them from taking part in restorative justice processes."
Kurariki wanted to meet Mrs Croskery.

"She is denying him that opportunity. She is not allowing him to lift that burden, and she is not allowing herself to go on that journey. She is in this ever decreasing cycle on anger and retribution and you can see it in her face...
"This is a blatant attempt on Sensible Sentencing's part to use Bailey, to victimise Bailey in the process."
Mr Workman said Kuariki was considered by those who know him to be an extremely low risk offender.

"Those who are close to him in the prison, and those from outside the prison who have supported him, are unanimous in their view that he is very unlikely to reoffend on release. He just wants to be left alone by the media and victim advocacy groups, so that he can live a law abiding life."

He said it was a scandal that Sensible Sentencing and Mrs Croskery were equating Kuariki with convicted killers Graeme Burton and William Bell.
Kuariki would have a lot of support around him when freed, having served his time. To put an electronic tag on him and to subject to him to close surveillance were stigmatise him.

"Bailey wants to lead a lawful life," Mr Workman said.
ends

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