Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: 'Beast' gets constraints he deserves

Hawkes Bay Today
8 Aug, 2012 08:45 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

It is good to see that serial sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson, better known as the Beast of Blenheim, will have strict parole conditions imposed on him when he is freed next month.

Residents of Blenheim have been anxiously waiting to hear where Wilson would be sent now that, according to our justice system, he cannot be kept in prison any longer.

The unfortunate winner of this rather grim honour is Wanganui. It could quite easily have been Hawke's Bay, but thankfully it is not.

Wilson was jailed for 21 years in 1996 for sexual offending against women and girls including rape, indecent assault, stupefying, wilful ill-treatment of a child and bestiality.

It is not often one feels a bit of sympathy for the Parole Board, but its hands were tied by the legal system and the conditions of Wilson's release show every precaution has been taken.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Despite being assessed as being at a high risk of reoffending, Wilson has to be released by September. Strict conditions on his release imposed by the Parole Board are set to expire in September 2015, at which point a 10-year supervision period will begin.

The Parole Board has often been criticised in the past for making the wrong decisions, but in this case it has done well under the circumstances.

Many of us would want Wilson to rot in jail, but for that to happen we would have to lobby our politicians to change the laws. Forced as it was to release him, the board has gone as far as it could to make life as difficult as possible for him. This is a good thing. For what he did, Wilson needs a bit more suffering in his life. Why should he be entitled to a nice, comfortable life?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He will housed in a house to be built on Wanganui Prison property and will have to pay rent.

He will be electronically monitored and can't move or leave the Wanganui district without the prior written approval of a probation officer. There are tough conditions around who he can interact with - under-16-year-olds and women being off-limits unless he has written permission and an approved adult is with them.

The board said Wilson could not take on a job or join a club, group, association, church, or support or addiction group without approval from his probation officer.

He can't advertise without approval or use an internet-accessible device without supervision by an appropriate person.

Wilson must not drink alcohol or use illegal drugs. He will also have to attend psychological sessions and will attend a hearing in three months to monitor his compliance with the conditions.

I haven't seen such strict parole conditions before and this shows the board is finally making the safety of the community the priority.

Let's hope it is enough.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

13 Jul 10:13 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Actor returns to roots with national tour stop in Hawke's Bay

13 Jul 10:02 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

13 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

13 Jul 10:13 PM

Hastings has grown faster than expected in recent years.

Actor returns to roots with national tour stop in Hawke's Bay

Actor returns to roots with national tour stop in Hawke's Bay

13 Jul 10:02 PM
Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

Getting young crims back to class: 'We need a holiday, they keep turning up'

13 Jul 06:00 PM
New health cadetship is opening doors for Wairoa job seekers

New health cadetship is opening doors for Wairoa job seekers

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search