Former Act Party president Tim Jago kept his name suppression throughout his trial for indecent assault. Composite photo / NZME
Former Act Party president Tim Jago kept his name suppression throughout his trial for indecent assault. Composite photo / NZME
Warning: This article deals with sexual offending and may be upsetting to some people.
Former Act Party president Tim Jago will remain behind bars after the Parole Board said he had “very limited acceptance, if any” of the sexual offending that landed him in prison.
Jago appeared beforethe Parole Board on Tuesday for the first time since he was jailed for two years and six months in November 2024.
One of the victims was younger than 16 at the time.
Jago denied the offending when charged, took it to a trial and has since appealed against his convictions and sentence to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal decision has been reserved and is likely to be released shortly.
When before the Parole Board, Jago was asked several times by convenor Kathryn Snook and other panel members if he now accepted he had committed the offending.
“I mean, I’m not happy about the label, but I accept it, you know?”
Jago was president of the Act Party from 2019 to January 2023, when the criminal charges were laid.
The trial jury reached unanimous guilty verdicts on eight charges of indecent assault involving the two teenagers.
Jago had name suppression from the time he was charged and fought to maintain it throughout his trial and even after he had been sentenced.
It lapsed in January this year.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.