Stabbing victim to leave NZ before attacker is freed

File photo / Richard Robinson

A stabbing victim is leaving the country and fears for his life because his attacker is about to be released from prison without having done any rehabilitation programme.

The Corrections Department has classified his attacker as low risk and will release him next month, even though the Parole Board views the man as a risk to the community.

Ian McArtney, 56, of Paekakariki, believes his ex-neighbour, Robert Frame, will harm him when he leaves prison next month after serving a sentence of three years and nine months.

In July 2006, Frame, who is now in his 50s, sliced Mr McArtney's face, cutting his mouth and tongue with a 15cm blade in what was described as an unprovoked and irrational attack.

Mr McArtney, a semi-retired IT consultant, says the corrections system is flawed because Frame has had no rehabilitation treatment, despite pleas from the Parole Board that without it he is a threat to the community.

Documents show the Parole Board and the Corrections Department had a conflicting view over the risk Frame poses.

The board repeatedly refused to release him because he had not done any rehabilitation programmes, and was thus a risk to the community.

But Corrections considered him a "maintenance" low-risk prisoner and not eligible for any programmes.

With Frame's previous convictions and a history of mental illness, Mr McArtney is taking no chances and has bought a ticket to Laos for the day before Frame is released. He plans to stay there at least until September.

"I have to anticipate that he's going to come after me."

Frame's sentencing notes state he has a "a long and fairly well-documented history of depression and drug and alcohol abuse", which was at the root of his offending.

Last October, the Parole Board report said: "[Since his last appearance in April] no steps had been taken to address his offending and none were likely to be taken.

"His offending was an unprovoked and sudden stabbing of his neighbour ... The situation remains that no programme has been undertaken to address the causes of his offending, nor has any intervention designed to achieve those purposes been undertaken.

"We consider that Frame remains a risk to the safety of the community."

Corrections considered Frame a well-behaved prisoner assessed as having a less than 30 per cent chance of re-offending.

He had had some counselling and employment training.

The Parole Board said in its November 2007 report that for Frame to get into a programme, his security classification would need to be readjusted.

It was not.

Mr McArtney is flabbergasted the department ignored the board's pleas.

"It seems to me the Parole Board can say what they like and the department doesn't pay any attention."

Prison Services assistant regional manager Bronwyn Donaldson said Parole Board recommendations had been acted on where appropriate.

Mental Health Services had treated him and would continue to do so after his release. Low-risk prisoners did not undertake intensive rehabilitation programmes because they "will not benefit from them", she said.

The Parole Board will set Frame's final conditions for the six months following his release, which may include attending a community programme.

Although Frame has a parole hearing this week, Mr McArtney has no faith that Frame will attend a programme before release.

"Even if he's not depressed when he's released, he could end up depressed one week later. [It's] just crazy the way it is."

Mr McArtney says he has had no peace of mind since the incident.

He is angry that when Frame was sentenced to prison, he was notified a week later that Frame was eligible for parole.

"I got home thinking I had two years and three months to think about this.

"Eight days later I get a letter from the Parole Board saying he's eligible [the prisoner spent 13 months on remand].

"He was actually eligible for release before he was sentenced. How bloody ridiculous is that?"

Long record of crimes

The man who stabbed his neighbour in the face was depressed at the time of the attack, a condition that afflicted him in previous offending.

Robert Frame used a 15cm blade to cut the face of his Paekakariki neighbour Ian McArtney, in what was described as an unprovoked and irrational attack.

It has also been revealed that Frame had previously been charged with murder, in 1975 when he was 16. He was subsequently acquitted.

He was convicted in 1990 for possession of a knife and in 1997 for aggravated burglary and possession of an offensive weapon.

The latter convictions relate to an incident, described as a "damage spree", through the Raumati Village Shopping Centre. Afterwards he broke into a house armed with a knife, and then assaulted a member of the public who came to investigate.

Two months before he stabbed Mr McArtney, in May 2006, Frame saw his doctor and advised him that "he was having overwhelming feelings of wanting to harm someone called Ian", according to Judge J.M. Kelly's notes at his bail hearing.

The same day he was admitted to Crisis Response and a course of anti-depressants was considered. He discharged himself a few days later.

In July he stabbed Mr McArtney after throwing dog excrement on to his property.