The Corrections Department yesterday admitted it made a mistake in releasing serial paedophile Lloyd McIntosh into a rural Canterbury township.
"We wouldn't be doing that again," said the department's chief executive, Mark Byers.
"If we were faced with that choice again, we would go about it a different way."
The
department paroled McIntosh to Halkett, 25km from Christchurch, in July, but public outrage forced it to move him to a house on Christchurch Prison grounds.
McIntosh, 31, is a serial sex offender whose offences include the rape of a 23-month-old baby and a six-year-old, and assaulting an intellectually disabled woman.
This week he became the first person to challenge an attempt by the department to put him under a 10-year supervision order, under this year's Extended Supervision Act.
The department was now looking at how it could deal with parole cases such as that of McIntosh, Mr Byers told Parliament's law and order committee yesterday.
"We can't foreclose our options as we may place offenders in the community for different reasons and they might be quite safe and acceptable things to do.
"In other circumstances they may not be safe and acceptable things to do and, in which case, we need to get that information out and deal with it a bit earlier in the process.
"Nobody is going to be risk-free, unfortunately."
Corrections Department probation and offenders service general manager Katrina Casey said many options for McIntosh's placement had been investigated.
When asked by National MP Brian Connell if placing McIntosh into Halkett was the right thing to do, she replied: "Well, he's not there now, is he?"
McIntosh was now under a nine-month conditional release order but the department had applied for an extended supervision order under the new law, she said.
The legislation allows for supervision and monitoring of child sex offenders for up to 10 years after their jail term has ended.
McIntosh challenged that application in the High Court at Christchurch on Tuesday. The court reserved its decision.
Ms Casey said the department had 58 offenders under consideration for extended supervision.
- NZPA
