But that was little consolation for one resident who discovered last week she had been living across the road from Rimene.
"I only accidentally found out. People had been told there was a sex offender in the area, but not where he was," said the woman, who did not want to be identified. "It was two and a half weeks before I pieced it together and looked him up on the Sensible Sentencing Trust database."
After word got out about his past, Rimene was removed from the address.
"It's just terrible, I don't understand how this can happen, how he can move in and even the landlord is not made aware. You don't expect to see someone like that landed at your back door."
The woman said her street was a thoroughfare for kids walking to Clive School and many young children lived in the area.
"The fact that they would even allow a paedophile to live in a place called School Rd, next to a school shows no thought what so ever went into his placement. Once we knew all parents could say to their children was, 'Don't go down that end of the road'."
The Corrections Department told Hawke's Bay Today it considered community notification of offenders on a "case-by-case basis".
"In this case, the neighbours and landlord weren't notified because the accommodation was temporary until alternative accommodation could be found," a spokesperson said.
Sensible Sentencing Trust founder Garth McVicar said he had received an influx of calls and emails after details about Rimene's release in Clive were revealed on Friday.
"I think it's that secret squirrel thing, that a recidivist paedophile could be put among a vulnerable community, where there are children.
"Most people are also concerned about the possibility of future offending."
Mr McVicar argued that a change in legislation was needed to protect victims and communities.
"Surely the safety of the community should override any safety issues for the offender. People can see both sides of the story but what irritates them is that these people are placed among them so they can't take any action to protect their children," he said.
He was also fighting to have the Government set up an extensive online sex offender database.
Rimene's history:
Rimene was convicted of raping a girl no older than 10 in 1977 and 15 years later was sentenced to 11 years and nine months in jail for sexual violation involving six girls.
He completed a sex offenders' programme in prison and was released in 2001.
In 2005, he was placed under an extended supervision order of eight years and six months, according to new legislation which enabled the monitoring of known sex offenders.
In November 2008 he appeared in Hastings District Court and was sentenced to six months in jail for breaching the order which expires in September 2013.
