SENSIBLE SENTENCING TRUST NEWSLETTER
DO WE HAVE A DUTY of CARE?
| IN THIS ISSUE: DUTY of CARE | SAVE OUR KIDS | THREE STRIKES - 5 YEARS ON | THANK YOU |
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Do we have a ‘Duty of Care’ to our kids?
By Garth McVicar |
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“In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation which is imposed on an individual requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care.”
Sensible Sentencing Trust is under no misapprehensions that our politicians have failed in their ‘Duty of Care’ to protect our children from sexual predators!
What about our Judges? Our legal guardians – the gate keepers for society – have they upheld their legal obligation to our children which requires them to ensure an adherence to a standard of reasonable care? Have they upheld their ‘Duty of Care’ to our kids?
New Zealand’s horrific level of child abuse makes the answer to the two questions above obvious. Both our elected representatives, [our politicians] and our Judges have failed in their ‘Duty of Care’ to ensure our kids are safe from danger – particularly a danger often living right in their midst!
To use another legal acronym by their very actions they have ‘Opened the Flood Gates’.
The legal action against SST by the Director of Human Rights Proceedings has exposed us to the reality of paedophilia – and to be brutally honest, has shaken my world.
So given the fact our politicians and Judiciary have abdicated their ‘Duty of Care’ to our most vulnerable - whose responsibility is it - to ensure our children are protected from evil, who is going to take on this task to ensure our kids are safe from sexual predators?
Sensible Sentencing Trust has a vision of a New Zealand safe from violent crime – that means we have a responsibility to uphold a ‘Duty of Care’ to our children.
already resulted in the Government agreeing to establish a ‘Child Sex Offender Register’ but the proposal at this stage is for a closed register which will still allow these predators to operate underground, in the world of darkness and anonymity they rely on – and our law sanctions! |
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Tour of Duty
I am currently undertaking a ‘Tour of Duty’ which involves traveling and speaking to various organisations nationwide. At present I have bookings through to March 2017, please feel free to contact me if you would like to make a booking.
You can contact Garth at garth@sst.org.nz |
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| Leigh Woodman is our National Victim advisor. Leigh can be reached by mobile: 027 561 2119 or sstvictims@sst.org.nz |
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| Jayne Walker is our South Island Victim Adviser. Jayne can be reached by mobile: 021 881 623 or christchurch@sst.org.nz |
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Call to Action
Paedophilia is the root of all evil; it is at the very heart of New Zealand’s crime problem. Our politicians and Judges may not have the courage to do what needs to be done but SST does and I am urging every one of our supporters to back us on this! This is a personal call to action from me, our children deserve better! |
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| Why I have joined SST - Amber |
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There will be many different reasons, experiences, and passions that motivate people to come forward and immerse themselves in the New Zealand Justice System. This is mine...
While growing up in an average New Zealand suburb, a trusted member of the community violated my family and destroyed many young children’s lives. The ‘grooming’ process ensured the victims silence and allowed this vile person to continue to offend for years creating many more victims. The member of my family found strength later in adulthood and shared with us on what happened in their childhood years. We proceeded through the court system but got little justice.
The offender had all the rights and our family had none. Now as a mother with a teenager and a toddler, how do I ensure that my family is safe? How do I protect my children and how can I help other families that have the same concerns?
I needed to be more proactive. I have volunteered to support an amazing group of SST volunteers who are continuing to push the government on sentencing while creating public awareness of our injustices within the system. I challenge you to join us also. There is power by numbers. Let’s get together and make this country a safer place for our children.
Amber is our newest member volunteering for the Auckland Committee; we thank Amber for her commitment. |
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| A ‘Bucket List’ of despicable sexual acts |
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Kiwi kids are making ‘bucket lists’ of graphic sexual acts and scoring themselves against each other as a result of unrestricted access to internet pornography and an ever increasing number of sexual predators on the web.
The internet has changed the world we live in. But the benefits of the web have come at the cost of innocence and safety for our young people. Sexual predators can access and manipulate children with ease and the graphic content of what they are viewing is influencing their attitude to sex in a way we will pay for in years to come.
Current legislation is sanctioning paedophilia in many ways and the modern world of internet chat-rooms has given them a raft of new opportunities. Sexual predators using false identifications are tricking children into performing sexual acts online which then enables them to blackmail the child into further acts of sexual depravity.
Children are freely accessing sexually explicit material on the internet and once their sexual interest is heightened they then trawl for even more lewd images without the maturity to properly put in context the pornographic material they are exposed to.
Regretfully this exposure to pornographic material often causes young victims to develop a skewed comprehension of safe sex, appropriate sex and good relationships.
There are examples of young girls and boys making ‘bucket’ lists of all types of sexual behaviour then proceeding to score themselves against their peers to see who can achieve the grossest sexual acts.
CALL TO ACTION We are urging our supporters to contact their M.P. and ask that they take urgent action on this issue and immediately introduce a publicly available sex offender register so the community knows who is living amongst us and the potential risk they pose to our children.
The human rights of our children must be paramount and take precedence over the human rights of any sexual predator. Garth |
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“My father was convicted of sexually abusing his granddaughter; he was convicted in Australia, but deported back to New Zealand after serving ½ of his prison sentence, without any monitoring to prey on unsuspecting communities.
The unforgivable trauma and ongoing nightmare my father has chosen to inflict on his once loving family and especially his adored granddaughter is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.
I will continue trying to prevent other children and families having their precious lives, trust and innocence obliterated by him”. |
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THUMBS DOWN to Justice Mander and his High Court decision
 Sisters Anne-Marie Forsyth and Karen Beaumont were sexually abused as children. Their abuser was convicted and sentenced on five counts of abuse. Both girls had name suppression, as did the abuser. In August last year, the sisters won the right to have their name suppression lifted. Since then, both sisters have been engaged in a lengthy and expensive legal battle to expose the man who committed sex crimes against them. The sister’s recently failed in the High Court to do this and the abuser won his suppression order and still hides behind his Victims.
We say the Judge’s decision sanctions child abuse and it’s a very sad day for New Zealand, but an even sadder day for women and children. |
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Three Strikes - 5 Years On
 Recently Shane Harrison and Justin Turner were both convicted of murder; at the time of their convictions both offenders had their first strike against them.
Harrison’s first strike was for indecent assault and Turner’s for wounding with intent causing traumatic brain injuries.
Under the Three Strikes law, Judges have the jurisdiction to give a Life without Parole (LWOP) sentence for any offender who commits murder as their second strike offence.
In the Harrison and Turner case, both judges chose not to use this part of the Three Strike Law instead saying it would be “manifestly unjust”.
The Crown are appealing both Judges decisions, claiming they were wrong in failing to give the two killers a Life without Parole sentence.
Garth says he believed no judge wanted to be first to send someone to jail without hope of release, so the Court of Appeal was the best way to clarify the law’s “manifestly unjust” provisions. Once we’ve crossed this hurdle of giving Life without Parole sentence, which we are hoping this appeal will do, we are hoping judges won’t be reluctant to go there again. |
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| Thanks Auckland Committee! |
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| Thank you to the Auckland Committee for the amazing support you give to SST. For this committee to give up their weekends to fundraise with Sausage Sizzle’s shows total commitment to the cause. |
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 New look membership brochure. If anyone is interested in doing letter box drops please contact the office on 06 835 5521 or email anne@sst.org.nz |
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We would like to thank those who write to us with the encouragement to keep going
We love receiving your mail and it’s that support that keeps us going. “Enclosed is our subscription for the wonderful work you do on our behalf as a community. God knows you have a huge job and we wish you well in all you do”. Member |
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Our Offender Database Manager Ross along with a support committee and MRD.co.nz are in the process of transforming our Offender Database to make it more user friendly.
The new look Database should be up and running in the New Year! |
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Support for SST’s campaign on a Public Register
Every time a child is killed it generates countless reports, reviews, and reforms, successive Governments have tried and failed to make any decent inroads into the number of children being killed. Stuff have done an in-depth review into New Zealand’s travesty please see links below for full reports.
http://goo.gl/Xw1Ymc
http://goo.gl/iDu4aM |
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