KEY POINTS:
Parole Board chairman Judge David Carruthers feels personally responsible for the death of Karl Kuchenbecker and hopes to meet his family.
The Wainuiomata father was allegedly shot by Graeme Burton during a shooting rampage in the Lower Hutt hills on January 6, during which he also allegedly wounded
four mountain bikers.
Burton had been paroled last July after he served 14 years of a life sentence for killing nightclub lighting technician Paul Neville Anderson.
Judge Carruthers told the Sunday Star Times the events had been "shattering".
"Extraordinary sense of personal responsibility when a thing like this happens," he said.
"The first thing you feel in this case is, however you dress it up, there are kids who don't have a dad any more.
"That's inescapable and so horrible."
Burton breached his parole conditions last month by failing to meet his probation officer. He went to ground and the subsequent manhunt culminated in the January 6 shootout, during which police shot him in the leg, which was later amputated.
He will appear in court next week on 23 charges, including murder, attempted murder of two others, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
Judge Carruthers told the Sunday Star Times reports an innocent man had been shot, allegedly by someone the board had released, was "the nightmare news in this job that you do not want to get".
"No doubt there are two young fatherless boys who need to know no one else will lose their father in such a fashion," he said.
"I'm determined if there is something we can do differently that is going to avoid this sort of tragedy in the future, we will do so. Why wouldn't we wish that?"
The board has launched an independent review into its decision to grant Burton parole. The Corrections Department is also reviewing its management of Burton and the information it gave to the board.
Meanwhile, the Department has admitted police asked it to recall Burton to prison five weeks before his alleged rampage but says it was powerless to act.
Police told Burton's probation officer on November 30 about his activities and told her he was not living where he was supposed to be.
Police wanted Burton recalled to prison but the probation officer said she could not act unless he was charged or the police provided affidavits.
Corrections Department probation and offender services general manager Katrina Casey confirmed police talked to Burton's probation officer and asked what his parole conditions were.
"The police did provide a service manager with information about some concerns about his activities," she said.
"The probation officer correctly told police that in order for the department to go to court with a breach of parole charge, or go to the New Zealand Parole Board with an application to recall, we had to either be able to rely on charges laid by police or alternatively have affidavits from the police themselves in support of the application."
The police said they could not provide affidavits, nor did they have enough evidence to lay charges.
"The probation officer's actions were appropriate -- no action could be taken on the basis that there were no charges from police to rely on and, although the police had forwarded information, they were not in a position to swear/affirm affidavits in support of that information."
The Corrections Department has previously said its management of Burton's parole was "swift", "timely" and "appropriate".
- NZPA
