Christchurch Prison also houses the Matawhāiti Residence, a national civil detention secure facility for people detained under public safety orders. Photo / Christchurch Star
Christchurch Prison also houses the Matawhāiti Residence, a national civil detention secure facility for people detained under public safety orders. Photo / Christchurch Star
An ultra high-risk sex offender who was the first in New Zealand to be subjected to a public protection order will remain in a secure facility after failing to convince the courts that a less intrusive order be made.
Glen Anthony Douglas-Finch, 34, was also the first person to enterthe Matawhāiti Residence in the precinct of the Christchurch Men’s Prison where he has lived for more than nine years.
The High Court has accepted an application from the Department of Corrections to impose a further PPO after a decision by the Court of Appeal allowing an appeal against earlier PPO decisions.
The 2024 Court of Appeal decision set aside the original PPO, which had been in place since 2016, agreeing there was a failure to properly determine whether a less intrusive order could have been made.
Douglas-Finch opposed the application and wanted an Extended Supervision Order (ESO) with an intensive monitoring condition.
An ESO is used to monitor and manage the long-term risk posed by a high-risk sex offender or a very high-risk violent offender who is back in the community.
A public protection order allows the detention of very high-risk individuals at a secure facility within prison precincts.
The order may be put in place for individuals who have served a finite prison sentence but still pose a very high risk of imminent and serious sexual or violent offending and cannot be safely managed in the community.
Douglas-Finch is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) alongside a degree of intellectual impairment.
Justice David Gendall said Douglas-Finch had, since childhood, exhibited a propensity for initiating inappropriate sexual contact with young people, and had a long history of problematic sexual behaviour.
The early sexualisation arose in the context of Douglas-Finch being subject to early childhood abuse.
He was placed in residential care aged 10 and displayed an extensive pattern of premeditated and predatory sexual behaviour to other boys at the facility, despite supervision and having a teacher’s aide with him at all times.
His criminal offending began in 2006, when he was convicted on two counts of sexual connection with a young person aged between 12 and 16.
The Christchurch Law Courts building. Photo / Herald
He was subjected to intensive supervision, which he breached in 2009, despite being under 24-hour intensive supervision.
In 2011, he was convicted on a charge of common assault that occurred at a public swimming pool, which was reported to have been sexually motivated.
In mid-2013, Douglas-Finch contacted a 13-year-old boy using false details and began sexually offending against him.
It led to two further convictions for sexual connection with a young person aged between 12 and 16 years and he was jailed for three years.
He was also made subject to an interim detention order.
Shortly afterwards, he was convicted on 11 charges of possessing objectionable publications.
At the High Court hearing in October last year, the court heard Douglas-Finch was using anti-libido medication and unwilling to engage with professionals when in a heightened emotional state.
He had an intensive drive to offend against pubescent or prepubescent males.
A health assessor told the court Douglas-Finch had enduring sex drive and urges that had been present for a long time.
He was described as egocentric with impaired social comprehension.
The court heard that if he was to live in the community, it was very likely he would be isolated and it was probable he could become fixated on a sexual goal.
He had essentially been institutionalised for most of his life and would continue to require external assistance to regulate his emotions and manage his stresses and his sexual risk.
Justice Gendall said it would be in Douglas-Finch’s best interests, as well as the interests of the community, for him to have the continuing and detailed support and protective environment of Matawhāiti Residence.
“I am satisfied there is a strong justification for a PPO to be made in respect of Mr Douglas-Finch with him remaining at Matawhāiti in the meantime, given there is a very high risk of imminent serious sexual offending occurring here.
“In my view, an ESO is inadequate to mitigate the risk Mr Douglas-Finch poses to the community.”
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
