Patrick WARU - 08/11/2016

Parole Hearing
Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

Patrick Fredrick Abraham WARU

Hearing: 8 November 2016 at [Withheld]

Members of the Board:

  • Judge D Mather – Panel Convenor
  • Ms G Hughes
  • Mr R Crotty

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Mr Waru is serving an effective sentence of 13 years four months for a range of primarily violent offending.  He has a very high RoC*RoI of 0.80145.  His sentence end date is 12 February 2021.  He is currently in maximum security.

2. As a result of a serious incident at this Prison three weeks ago, he is now facing three further very serious charges, of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (x2) and assault with intent to injure.  We understand weapons were involved.  He has apparently appeared once in Court and has his next Court appearance in three weeks time when he will be expected to enter pleas.

3. In addition his PCO told us of three other incidents in Prison which have given rise to misconduct charges.

4. Mr Waru has been seen by [Withheld] and would like it to be reassessed.  Given his recent difficulties, we support that as a priority.  Whether he needs further [Withheld] should also be reassessed.

5. Mr Waru also told us that he would like to resume [Withheld] counselling for issues which go back to his time in state care.  Again we see real benefit for him in that and strongly support him being provided with that intervention as soon as possible.

6. He has a number of programmes on his sentence plan, including the six month DTU, [Withheld] treatment and [Withheld].  He told us he is keen to engage in programmes.  However he is also realistic enough to understand that his classification is unlikely to be reduced any time soon so that he can undertake programmes.

7. In our view the Board needs the assistance of a psychological assessment and report as to how best to address his significant rehabilitation needs.  Given the active charges, the [Withheld] counselling and the possible need for forensic intervention, it may be some time before the psychological assessment can best be undertaken.

8. On that basis we will schedule Mr Waru to appear again before the Board on or before 31 October 2017.  Obviously significant risk issues remain and parole is declined.

Judge D Mather
Panel Convenor