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Home / New Zealand

Serial stalker to be released from prison

By APNZ staff
APNZ·
15 Nov, 2011 12:33 AM4 mins to read

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File photo of Glen Goldberg in the dock during his sentencing at the Auckland High Court in 2004. Photo / NZ Herald

File photo of Glen Goldberg in the dock during his sentencing at the Auckland High Court in 2004. Photo / NZ Herald

A man once described as a 'social terrorist' for making life a misery for at least 10 women by obsessively stalking them is to be released from prison this week.

Glen Goldberg, 41, has more than 190 previous convictions.

They include 37 related to "duplicitous, cunning and manipulative harassment" and about 30 for breach of protection orders, Justice John Laurenson said when sentencing Goldberg to six years imprisonment in 2004.

A Department of Corrections spokesman said Goldberg would be released this week as his sentence had come to an end.

The conditions of his release include that he is to reside at an approved address, undertake treatment and psychological assessment if directed, not associate with his victims and report regularly to his probation officer.

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"This offender will be held to account if he does not comply with any of these conditions and may have breach action taken against him in court. Because he is being released at the end of his sentence he will not be able to be recalled to prison," the spokesman said.

He will be monitored by a probation officer until May 2012.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh, who has not had any direct involvement with Goldberg but has been following the case through the media, said this seemed like a short monitoring period for someone with Goldberg's extensive criminal history.

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"It's quite remarkable the lengths he's gone to in his stalking. Previous qualified and experienced forensic psychiatrists and the Parole Board have expressed their concerns about his risk of reoffending, so it does seem quite short.

"However, it needs to be recognised that when you talk about someone as being at high risk of reoffending it doesn't mean they will reoffend, even though they have a dreadful record. As people age their risk of reoffending tends to drop and, particularly within stalking groups, some people respond reasonably well to incarceration and to criminal sanctions."

The Department of Corrections would not disclose what day Goldberg would be released, but Radio New Zealand reported he would be freed Tuesday.

Goldberg's first known victim was a 16-year-old he bumped into on a bus. He discovered her name from her bus pass and managed to track down her address to pursue her.

His obsession made her life a misery as she was bombarded with letters and phone calls. She was watched, photographed and followed.

So relentless was his pursuit that some of his victims left their homes to escape, but Goldberg was adept at tracking them down.

One woman - who believed Goldberg had been under her house and had also fossicked through her rubbish - described in 1998 how she and her boyfriend moved in the dead of night to escape Goldberg's surveillance, but he still managed to track them down. It was "like living in a nightmare", she said.

Another woman described Goldberg's surveillance as "like being a prisoner in my own home".

One victim received more than 130 telephone calls from Goldberg as well as numerous letters. He also made untrue allegations about her to her employer and harassed her family and friends.

He photographed her with a telephoto lens at home, on the way to and from work, and even in Burger King. He would park near her parents' house, watching.

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During sentencing, Justice Laurenson said the protection of the public was his paramount concern and Goldberg, devious and manipulative, was at high risk of re-offending.

"As things stand at the moment, judging by your past performance, there is almost a certainty you will re-offend in the future."

Goldberg was sentenced to a further 20 months in jail in 2008 after being found guilty of criminal harassment for terrorising his former partner and her family from behind bars.

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