Offender on parole 'threatened to kill'

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark has attacked a Parole Board decision to release a violent sexual offender, who he alleged, went on to threaten and harass several women.

Mr Mark said yesterday under parliamentary privilege that John Albert Thomas Clarke had threatened to kill three women while on parole in Christchurch this year, and also threatened revenge against one of the women's children.

Mr Mark said Clarke had been given home detention and parole despite a history of serious offending.

Clarke was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but released into home detention late last year, after seven years in custody.

Mr Mark said that in January, after just eight weeks in home detention, Clarke was placed in a Christchurch social services home, Cardijn House.

Mr Mark said some of the home's staff, and many vulnerable women who used its services, had no knowledge of his offending.

He said while there, Clarke "duped" two women into having sexual relations with him and then tried to do the same with a third who had gone to the home seeking assistance. He then threatened to kill and take revenge against all three and the child of one of them.

A series of documents tabled by Mr Mark partially supported his allegations.

Mr Mark said Clarke's case highlighted serious problems with Parole Board decisions regarding home detention and parole.

"How can the minister and indeed the public have any confidence whatsoever in the processes of the Parole Board or the corrections department when it declares a remorseless repeat sexual offender, such as John Albert Thomas Clarke, suitable for home detention and then allows his release on parole only for him to offend again within weeks."

Corrections Minister Paul Swain said Clarke had successfully served his home detention at a separate location and had been released on parole conditions by the time he was at Cardijn House.

He was recalled into custody when parole officers found out he had gone to stay with a woman he had recently met and her children - against his parole conditions.

He was now awaiting a Parole Board hearing.

Mr Swain said several of the facts outlined by Mr Mark were in dispute, but he distanced himself from the Parole Board, saying it made decisions independently and was required by law to take public safety into account.

He defended the home detention system, saying in the year to the end of March 2003, only 10 per cent of offenders completing home detention returned to prison within a year, compared with 25 per cent of those released from a minimum-security prison.

Mr Swain said he was looking at changes to the scheme, including letting judges make the decision on home detention for offenders who were eligible to serve their whole sentence.

- NZPA