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Home / New Zealand

Parole Board ordered to pay damages after privacy blunder ended in Taranaki man's death

NZ Herald
23 Jan, 2019 03:12 AM4 mins to read

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Jesse Dolman was released from prison to live with his mum. Photo / File

Jesse Dolman was released from prison to live with his mum. Photo / File

A Parole Board privacy blunder saw a Taranaki parolee forced to leave town before disappearing for a month - only later found to have committed suicide.

The Human Rights Review Tribunal has ruled the New Zealand Parole Board breached the privacy of Jesse Dolman's mum, Judith Ann Tapiki, and friend Josephine Eru, in a decision released yesterday.

It awarded a combined $28,000 in damages.

The privacy breach, the tribunal concluded, led to a "tragic chain of events" and ultimately Dolman's death after he went missing around Christmas in 2014.

Dolman was paroled after being sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for serious violent offending in October 2017.

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One of his victims is now wheelchair-bound.

In a May 2014 decision, the Parole Board released him to a house where his mother and another man lived.

However, an unredacted version of the decision was accidentally disclosed to one of Dolman's victims.

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The copy sent to the victim had certain names redacted but showed the parole address.

A Parole Board operations manager realised he had failed to redact the address and concluded there was a privacy breach by the sending decision.

A letter in late May 2014 was sent by the operations manager to Dolman apologising for the oversight, while the Department of Corrections also notified the Privacy Commissioner.

In a July 2014 letter to the chairperson of the Parole Board, Tapiki referred to the threats made to her and her son during the court hearing and described the consequences of the release of their address.

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"There is now a very real threat to myself and the family friend I live with, as well as her teenaged son," she said.

"We had changed our whole lives to make this happen because we believed so strongly in his ability to make a success of his life with the supports we had put in place for him."

She said she lived in fear of her son's victim's family "turn[ing] up on our doorstep and want[ing] vengeance".

"Our privacy and human rights have been breached in the most grievous way - putting our very safety and peace of mind at risk."

Tapiki also told the Board that after the disclosure of the address their letterbox had been smashed, while Eru confirmed a few days later a fence around the house had also been damaged.

Because of "strong local community feelings", Dolman was told by Corrections he would be moved to a new town - Masterton.

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Just a couple of months later, during September 2014, Dolman sent an email to the chairperson of the Parole Board outlining the "downward spiral of his life" as a consequence of being compelled to leave his mum.

His health, both mentally and physically, deteriorated to such a state that he committed suicide at some time while missing between December, 24, 2014 and January 16, 2015 when he body was found.

As a result the Human Rights Review Tribunal ruled the Parole Board interfered with the privacy of Tapiki and Eru by disclosing personal information about them.

They were awarded damages of $16,000 for the injury to feelings experienced by Tapiki, while Eru was awarded $12,000.

"Ms Tapiki, as the mother of Jesse, experienced injury to feelings to a greater degree and to a greater intensity than Ms Eru," the tribunal said in its decision.

"This is not to discount Ms Eru's injured feelings but it is necessary that the natural love, affection and feelings of responsibility on the part of Ms Tapiki for her son be specifically recognised.

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"It was her unwavering support for Jesse and her diligent advocacy of the support plan put in place by her which led to his renewed release on parole. The destruction of her plans was felt to a different degree of intensity."

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