Parole Board unaware predator had moved before assault

"I could see there was something very much wrong ... I didn't know what he was but I wanted him out of the room. That's all I thought about - to get him out of the room."

That was part of the testimony from a 96-year-old woman who this week helped to convict notorious child molester Howard Vivian Kitching, 62, of indecent assault. The woman, who cannot be named, is thought to be the oldest person to give evidence in person in a New Zealand court. She was 95 when she was assaulted by Kitching while she sat in her chair in a rest home in May 2007. He lived nearby, and walked uninvited into the home.

He denied any wrongdoing but jurors took less than three hours to find him guilty.

Once the verdicts were read, Judge Philippa Cunningham read part of his long criminal history to the court. She said his sentencing next month probably would not make "a great deal of difference" because of preventive detention, which is an indefinite jail term.

It is likely Kitching will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Kitching, the first person to be sentenced to preventive detention twice, has spent more than half his life in jail. A Weekend Herald search of court records revealed the recidivist paedophile was brain-damaged after a car accident in 1963.

Two years later, Kitching was convicted of his first sexual offence against children. Then again in 1969, 1972, 1973 and 1974, when preventive detention was first imposed.

After 11 years in jail, he was released in 1985 but three days later indecently assaulted a 10-year-old girl at an Auckland Farmers store playground.

The preventive detention was reactivated. In October 2006, he was again released on parole under strict conditions that included 24-hour supervision.

Kitching was living 700m from a primary school with Mark Mannix Brown, a former Catholic priest jailed for 15 months in 1995 for indecently assaulting two boys. An off-duty police officer noticed Kitching taking "an unusual interest in passing schoolchildren" and launched covert surveillance.

Kitching was seen numerous times when children walked by. Corrections Department psychologists told the Parole Board that he was showing signs that "offending against children is imminent". But after a six-hour hearing in December 2007, the board rejected efforts by police and Corrections to have Kitching recalled to jail.

A statement from Parole Board Judge David Carruthers in January 2008 said: "The board makes no apologies for what to date has been a highly successful release. There have been no breaches whatsoever of parole conditions, and I believe no one is unsafe because of this release."

A few months later Kitching moved to a new address near two primary schools - a move of which the Parole Board was unaware. It was there that he offended against the 96-year-old.

After Kitching was found guilty of indecent assault this week, Parole Board spokeswoman Sonja de Friez stood by the decision to release him.

"A careful decision was made to release this offender. The safety of the community was preserved by conditions requiring him to stay under very close supervision, at a specific location. The board was not made aware of Mr Kitching's shift from this address."

- additional reporting by Andrew Koubaridis