'I was so passionate about this work': Sue Anderson on 13 years with Restorative Justice

Sue Anderson has finished with the Whanganui Restorative Justice Trust after 13 years of service. Photo / Jesse King

If you have ever attended court proceedings during which an offender pleads guilty, you may have heard a judge making a referral for restorative justice.

Restorative justice is a process in which a facilitator meets with an offender and a victim, giving them the chance to share their stories and feelings following a crime.

The facilitator writes a report throughout which is sent to the judge, lawyer and police prosecutors before the offender is due to be sentenced.

After 13 years of writing those reports for the Whanganui Restorative Justice Trust, Sue Anderson has put down the pen.

Anderson said she was sad to be leaving, but ready for a change.

"I was so passionate about this work. It's making a difference, giving people an opportunity and seeing people take responsibility.

"Without restorative justice, victims never have a voice in court unless they go to trial and how adversarial is that with a defence lawyer hammering you?"

Anderson was born in Southland before departing to attend boarding school at the now defunct St Philomena's College in Dunedin.

She later went to teachers college, working in the shearing sheds during the holidays until she gained her qualification.

However, teaching did not stick and Anderson left the profession after five years, moving to Whanganui where she married her husband Peter and together they had three children.

When it was time to return to the workforce, Anderson did some volunteer work before taking on a training and development role at the former Whanganui Polytechnic.

"Part of that was doing mediation between students or between students and staff. That's why I became interested in that process," Anderson said.

"I was doing a post-grad paper on dispute resolution and during that time there was the opportunity to do a topic of your own choice.

"Because I had been doing a little bit of mediation, I thought restorative justice might be quite interesting to have a look at."

The Restorative Justice team in 2018 was Rere Sutherland, Sue Anderson, Kristie Matson and David Curry. Photo/ Bevan Conley

Anderson knew the Whanganui co-ordinator at the time, went to visit him and asked what the job was about.

In no time she had completed a paper, then applied for and got the job at Whanganui Restorative Justice Trust advertised in 2006.

Before starting, Anderson had only been to court once as a jury member and the extent of her training was watching two conferences run by the previous co-ordinator.

"I was totally in the deep end. I had no idea how to address the judges, work with the lawyers or work with police," she said.

"My predecessors did a good job of building relationships with those stakeholders so it was a matter of me following in their footsteps, but making it my own."

The process has changed significantly since then.

Facilitators are required to complete six online modules, converse with an assessor, attend a five day course and observe about six conferences before being assessed.

The profession has its challenging times. Anderson always found conferences surrounding car crashes resulting in significant injuries or death very difficult.

Sue Anderson's job meant she spent many hours at the Whanganui courthouse.

Participants could also be tricky, such as an offender Anderson met at a pre-conference who seemed like he would be all good, but tried to control the process.

"When it was the victim's turn to speak, he kept interrupting her. I kept saying to him 'you've had your turn, nobody interrupted you'.

"He didn't want to listen to her, yet when we did all the risk assessment, all the boxes were ticked. He was charming as a lot of offenders in family harm are.

"I think he thought he would be able to control me. Fat chance."

News of Anderson's resignation near the end of April has travelled fast and already a smaller restorative justice provider has reached out for her help.

Anderson recently returned from Invercargill where she travelled down to help a family violence facilitator complete her requirements.

She said the most amazing experience throughout her career was the fact that so many people trusted her with their stories.

"I'm the elephant in the room. Everybody else knows one another or if they don't, they've got a connection through a crime that's been committed.

"I can never believe how openly and honestly people will talk in front of a complete stranger. At the end I always thank them for trusting me with their story."