New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Scott Alexander TROTTER

Hearing: 9 May 2018

at Otago Corrections Facility

Members of the Board:

• Ms K Snook – Panel Convenor
• Ms S Pakura
• Mr C King

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Scott Alexander Trotter, 40, appeared for the first consideration of parole on a sentence of four years five months’ imprisonment for his part in offending involving burglary, 14 charges of possession of firearms in contravention of the Arms Act 1983, and one charge of possession of explosives.
2. This offending involved burglary of a residential address owned by the armourer of the Dunedin Pistol Club.  Together with a co-offender, Mr Trotter took a significant number of weapons and ammunition.  He then arranged for several transactions in relation to the weapons with gangs including the Bandidos and Hells Angels.
3. This is on top of offending dating back to 1992 for violence, dishonesty, breach and drug offending.  There is however a notable gap in Mr Trotter’s offending history between 2011 and 2016.  Mr Trotter used to belong to the Road Knights gang.  He told the Board he left that gang around seven years ago.  He went to polytech and became a personal trainer.
4. The wheels fell off again for Mr Trotter, due to the break-up of a volatile relationship, and he went back to using drugs.  This included testosterone which Mr Trotter accepted today may well have affected his behaviour in the relationship.
5. Mr Trotter’s sentence commenced on 2 August 2017, he has a parole eligibility date of 17 May 2018, and a sentence end date of 26 April 2021.  He is on a low prison security classification and has a RoC*Rol of 0.62107.
6. In advance of the hearing we received written submission from Ms Saunderson-Warner, who is Mr Trotter’s lawyer.  In those submissions Mr Saunderson-Warner told the Board that Mr Trotter was not seeking parole.
7. Mr Trotter is currently on the Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme (MIRP) which he began in February 2018.  He is said to be engaging well and is expected to graduate at the end of May.
8. The officer who attended the hearing said that Mr Trotter will then be placed on the Drug Treatment Programme (DTP) which Mr Trotter accepts that he requires.
9. Mr Trotter talked to the Board about the offending today.  He said that he is learning some strategies on the MIRP to help him deal with situations when things go wrong, rather than reverting back to his old ways.  He accepts that it was his contacts with the gangs that facilitated the sale of the weapons.  He said however the bulk of the guns got thrown in the sea when he and his co-offender realised the gravity of what they had done.
10. Since coming into jail Mr Trotter told the Board he has felt much more composed and in due course he will provide an address to his case manager for canvassing for the next Board.
11. For today, however, risk remains undue and parole is declined.  Although we gave thought to Ms Saunderson-Warner’s submission that Mr Trotter appear before the Board in nine months’ time, we think that a longer period of time will be required for Mr Trotter given the seriousness of this offending and the work that is required.
12. Once Mr Trotter has completed the programmes there needs to be a sustained period of time in which Mr Trotter puts into practice the skills he has learnt on the MIRP and the DTP in different environments within the prison.
13. That being the case we will schedule Mr Trotter to be seen again by a Board in May 2019 and no later than the end of that month.  We ask for the relevant completion reports from the MIRP and the DTP for the next Board.