Johnathon SMALLBON - 19/11/2019

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

and

Hearing for Postponement Order

27(4)(b) of the Parole Act 2002

Johnathon Andrew SMALLBON

Hearing: 19 November 2019

at Christchurch Men’s Prison via AVL from Rimutaka Prison

Members of the Board:

  • Sir Ron Young – Chairperson
  • Assoc Prof. P Brinded
  • Ms W Taumaunu
  • Mr M Quigg

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Johnathon Andrew Smallbon was sentenced to preventive detention in 2007 for very serious sexual offending, abduction, assaults and threatening to kill. He did not have many convictions in New Zealand but did have a significant sexual offending [history] in Australia between 1999 and 2002.
  2. We saw him last in November 2017. He was then doing one on one sessions with a psychologist. Ultimately it was suggested that he needed to go to Kia Marama Special Treatment Unit programme. The process was to be that he would go to Rolleston Prison, settle in, continue with [withheld] and do one on one further counselling to prepare him for Kia Marama.
  3. As to the current position, it has not really changed since November 2017. He waived his appearance before the Board today. He is currently in Christchurch Men’s Prison. Although he has come some distance, he struggles with change and can resort to both aggressive language and aggressive conduct. While in prison he has assaulted other prisoners and prison officers.
  4. He has improved somewhat during 2019. Currently he remains untreated.  He needs to follow that same pathway of getting to [withheld], settling in, continuing with [withheld] and continuing to prepare himself for the Kia Marama programme.
  5. He also needs drug and alcohol treatment in prison.
  6. We are satisfied, given that he has significant work to do before he is even ready to consider rehabilitation programmes, that it is an appropriate case to make a postponement order. We have previously given Mr Smallbon written notice of the possibility of a postponement order, we are satisfied given the above information that, without significant change Mr Smallbon is unlikely to be suitable for release on parole during the next three years. We will therefore see him in three years time by the end of November 2022.
  7. In the meantime he remains an undue risk.

Sir Ron Young
Chairperson