NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

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 / New Zealand

Blessie's killer: Why was he back on the streets?

David Fisher
By David Fisher
Senior writer·NZ Herald·
28 Jul, 2015 03:17 AM6 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

Tony Robertson in the dock at Auckland High Court this morning. Photo/ Supplied
Tony Robertson in the dock at Auckland High Court this morning. Photo/ Supplied

Tony Robertson in the dock at Auckland High Court this morning. Photo/ Supplied

The Parole Board, prison service and a judge kept murderer and rapist Tony Robertson away from society for as long as the law allowed, Herald inquiries have found.

Robertson was free from prison for five months before he raped and killed Blessie Gotingco.

The attack happened three months after a prison psychologist assessed the convicted child kidnapper and abuser as "high risk" and likely to abduct and rape someone.

A Herald review of Robertson's history with the justice system found no apparent gaps which allowed his release.

Instead, the authorities did all they could to protect the public under the powers available at the time. A new law gives greater powers to segregate from the community the most dangerous of those released from prison.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Robertson was convicted last month of the May 2014 attack on Mrs Gotingco.

He ran her down as she walked home from a North Shore bus stop in the dark and rain after a Saturday shift at Tower Insurance.

The jury accepted the Crown case that Robertson's abduction of Mrs Gotingco ended in rape and a fatal, frenzied knife attack at his Birkdale home.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Her body was found dumped in a cemetery in Birkenhead.

The verdict was watched by Mrs Gotingco's grieving husband Antonio and their three children.

Rethinking Crime and Punishment executive director Ced Simpson said the justice system meant almost everyone jailed would be released eventually and former inmates needed strong support networks.

"It's in everyone's interests to put appropriate resources into information centres and community rehabilitation. Unless we execute all criminals or throw them in jail for life, then prisoners will get released."

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

'The first and last time the family will speak his name'

28 Jul 02:28 AM
New Zealand|crime

Simon Bridges first locked up Robertson

28 Jul 03:07 AM
New Zealand|crime

Victim speaks in favour of burglar

28 Jul 04:30 AM
New Zealand|crime

Justice Minister to investigate monitoring of offenders

28 Jul 05:01 AM

Mr Simpson's comments were supported by clinical psychologists interviewed by the Herald who said released prisoners needed support because isolation from the community could increase chances of re-offending.

Robertson was flagged as a danger from the moment he was sentenced aged 19 in 2006 for the abduction and indecent assault of a a 5-year-old girl.

Parole Board documents show Robertson was kept in prison for the duration of the 8-year sentence, marking his time with aggression and violence towards guards and a denial of having committed the crimes he was locked up for.

Tony Douglas Robertson (PDF)
Tony Douglas Robertson (Text)

A 2010 report from the board said Mr Robertson was showing "bad behaviour and non-compliant attitudes and was a clear major risk to the safety of the community".

A 2013 report, just before his release hearing, stated he had undertaken no programmes in prison to assist rehabilitation other than seven one-to-one counselling sessions the year before.

Tight conditions imposed by the board for his December 2013 release included a curfew, a ban from areas children might gather, alcohol and drug counselling and having to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet which recorded his movements.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A Parole Board transcript records Robertson as continuing to reject the crimes for which he had been imprisoned.

He told the board: "It's no secret that I've maintained my innocence and my plan when I get out is to apply for an appeal to the courts."

He also said he was "100 per cent committed to sticking to" the release conditions "because I don't want to come back to jail for any reason at all".

On release, Robertson was given accommodation by the Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society in central Auckland.

He was convicted three weeks later for breaching his release conditions by having an overnight visitor, which his mother Maria McWatters said was his cousin.

A sentence of community detention was imposed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

His second breach came on January 27 when his GPS monitoring recorded him as being inside a park.

Court records show Robertson was returned to prison until Judge Roy Wade sentenced him on February 25 to two months in prison, including time served.

Ministry of Justice figures show Judge Wade's sentence was a stricter option than most judges considering breaches of release condition. Only 23 per cent of the 1150 breaches in 2014 - including those by Robertson - resulted in a return to prison.

The protection of the community was central to the sentencing notes of Judge Wade, released to the Herald. He said the Department of Corrections had obtained an Extended Supervision Order (ESO) for 10 years - the maximum period possible - including GPS tracking, which would mean Robertson was closely monitored.

He said Robertson should understand "you effectively have big brother looking at you, over your shoulder, and he will continue to do so for a very substantial period of time".

"So, what is best for you in no longer a substantial criterion. What is best for the community is what counts from now on."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The ESO was imposed by Justice Edwin Wylie at the High Court. Justice Wylie said Robertson "poses a very considerable risk indeed". "It is also clear that if he is to reoffend, the harm that would be caused to his victims would be very serious indeed."

The ESO conditions were timed to take over from his restrictive release conditions in June 2014, by which time he was back in prison facing charges over Mrs Gotingco's death.

Department of Corrections management are believed to have checked their handling of the Robertson case thoroughly and found no flaws in the management of his release.

A similar check at the Parole Board is understood to have shown Robertson's release conditions to be more stringent than most applied.

A new law passed in December has given prison authorities more power to keep dangerous inmates away from the public.

Corrections can apply for Public Protection Orders (PPO) from the court for offenders with histories of serious violence or sexual offending.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The orders allow Corrections to keep an inmate who has served his or her full sentence in a secure area on prison grounds.

Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said the new orders would be used sparingly - one or two inmates up for release each year - and be targeted only at the most dangerous.

"Obviously, we're weighing up the human rights aspects of imposing a PPO with the need to protect the public from these high risk serious offenders."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'All I could do was watch and pray': Auckland priest wakes at 2am to his church ablaze

13 Jul 10:47 PM
Christchurch

Road-rage attack: Police appeal for more information after motorway assault

13 Jul 10:47 PM
New Zealand

Small Kiwi distillery outshines rap legend Snoop Dogg in world gin awards

13 Jul 10:44 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Small Kiwi distillery outshines rap legend Snoop Dogg in world gin awards
New Zealand

Small Kiwi distillery outshines rap legend Snoop Dogg in world gin awards

13 Jul 10:44 PM
'I can't believe it': Maxwell's thrilling comeback at MTB World Cup
Sport

'I can't believe it': Maxwell's thrilling comeback at MTB World Cup

13 Jul 10:43 PM
'Alligator Alcatraz' expected to cost $750m to operate for a year
World

'Alligator Alcatraz' expected to cost $750m to operate for a year

13 Jul 10:13 PM
Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue
Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

13 Jul 10:13 PM
Black Sox fall short of eighth world title
Sport

Black Sox fall short of eighth world title

13 Jul 10:08 PM

Latest from New Zealand

'All I could do was watch and pray': Auckland priest wakes at 2am to his church ablaze

'All I could do was watch and pray': Auckland priest wakes at 2am to his church ablaze

13 Jul 10:47 PM

The attached primary school is closed as investigators determine the cause.

Road-rage attack: Police appeal for more information after motorway assault

Road-rage attack: Police appeal for more information after motorway assault

13 Jul 10:47 PM
Small Kiwi distillery outshines rap legend Snoop Dogg in world gin awards

Small Kiwi distillery outshines rap legend Snoop Dogg in world gin awards

13 Jul 10:44 PM
Farmers help foodbanks with milk and meat donations

Farmers help foodbanks with milk and meat donations

13 Jul 10:30 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
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search