New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Dejay Rawiri KANE

Hearing: 13 April 2022

at Otago Corrections Facility via MS Teams

Members of the Board: Judge G F Ellis – Panel Convenor

Ms T Sharkey

Dr G Coyle

Counsel:                                           Sonia Vidal

In Attendance:                                  [withheld] – Case Manager

Support Persons: [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Dejay Rawiri Kane, aged 23, is serving a sentence of four years and eight months’ imprisonment for manslaughter and four charges of recklessly causing injury.
2. He reached parole eligibility on 7 December 2021 and his sentence expiry date is 5 April 2024, so there are just under two years remaining on his sentence.
3. In December 2018, at the age of 20, while disqualified and after drinking alcohol, Mr Kane drove recklessly, causing a serious crash in which a young family of four were badly injured and the young mother tragically died.
4. He has a history of offending from age 17, including previous driving and drinking offences.  His underlying risk factors were identified as substance use, a sense of entitlement, poor problem solving and poor impulse control.
5. Mr Kane appeared for the first time before the Board on 7 December 2021.  He had completed the Short Rehabilitation Programme, a Drug Treatment Programme and also a Wellbeing and Attitudes Programme.  He had engaged with the Right Track Programme.  He had just been approved for work outside the wire and the Board required a period of reintegrative activity and testing of his new skills.
6. The Parole Assessment Report (PAR) now before us says that he has taken responsibility for his offending, has completed the three rehabilitation programmes presented to him, and that he has recently done the Head Start Programme.  His case manager reports that he has expressed remorse for his actions and has acknowledged the effect that his actions had on the victims and on the community.  He has completed all his identified rehabilitation programmes and will continue with programme maintenance in the community.
7. The Parole Assessment Report, however, also says that reintegration activity anticipated by the Board has yet to be confirmed.  The report tells us that Mr Kane had a guided release application ready to be presented to the advisory panel to undergo activities that would allow his case manager to assess his readiness to be released.  That had not yet been processed because of the Covid-19 restrictions. Those activities would have included a home visit to spend the day with his whānau [withheld], to see how he interacts with them and how comfortable he would be around the workload.  The follow-up was then to attend such other release to work opportunities as may be presented.  In the meantime, he has since December been approved for work outside the wire and has been working on the grounds.
8. Mr Kane was represented by counsel.  Ms Vidal submitted that Mr Kane was now ready for release.  She pointed to his having completed the rehabilitation programmes presented to him and having done the additional work noted in the PAR.  Counsel said he had taken every opportunity to improve himself and had put a lot of work into his Relapse Prevention Plan. He has been working outside the wire on grounds maintenance in a position of trust and continues to receive positive notes on his behaviour and attitude.  Counsel clarified the proposal that is being presented for release to accommodation with [withheld] on the [withheld] also lives and works.  He will have work available [withheld] where there are strict rules of non-tolerance of alcohol and drugs, and he will have the support of his partner and family.  Counsel also talked of Mr Kane’s wish to contribute to the Right Track Programme with which counsel is also involved.  It was intended that Mr Kane would be introduced to this programme on a Guided Release and would have opportunities to speak to other young people about his experiences which brought him to his current position.
9. The reports on Mr Kane’s conduct and presentation are generally positive and complimentary.  There are however notes from his Offender Employment Instructor on fluctuating degrees of enthusiasm for work and odd days when he is hard to motivate and cannot be bothered.
10. When we spoke with [withheld] she told us of the changes she has seen in his behaviour and attitude and of her belief that he will never again behave in a manner that could bring him back to prison.  She told us that while in custody Mr Kane had lost [withheld].  [withheld] suggested that such concerns explained Mr Kane’s occasional lapses in motivation.
11. Mr Kane’s worries about his family are understandable but the way in which he deals with such issues goes to the purpose of the re-integrative part of his sentence.  When on a reintegration path, he has the challenge of putting into practice what he has learned from his programmes and the opportunity in a range of situations to demonstrate his commitment to change and the ability to use the new skills he is believed to have acquired.  Mr Kane knows that a sense of entitlement, poor problem-solving and poor impulse control were all offending factors identified at the outset of his sentence.  Now that he has completed his programmes, it is through his conduct in the prison and the performance of reintegration activity that he has the opportunity to show that his risks in those areas have been reduced.
12. Mr Kane was told that, earlier in the day, we had met with the father of the young woman who was killed by his actions.  We told him of the profound grief and loss suffered by that young woman’s family, a grief that they believe has since contributed to the death of the young woman’s mother.
13. We conveyed to Mr Kane the views expressed by the father about his offending and his previous behaviour, including the belief by the family that Mr Kane has not yet done enough to demonstrate his remorse and to justify consideration of early release. The father of the victim said he did understand that Mr Kane would at some stage satisfy the Board he was safe to be released, however he believed this time had not yet come.  He opposed his release today.
14. Mr Kane accepted the views of the victims’ family respectfully.  He said that they have every right to believe that he should stay in prison.  He also said that he has had a lot of time to think about his behaviour, particularly his drinking, and to regret every day the pain that he had caused.  He expressed again his deep regret and remorse while appearing to acknowledge that there was nothing, he could say that could change what had happened.
15. Mr Kane has completed the Short Rehabilitation and Drug Treatment Programmes and had good reports of conscientious engagement in both programmes. He completed a relapse prevention and safety plan from the programmes and has presented these plans in a reintegration hui.
16. After consideration of all of the material before us, and after hearing from Mr Kane, from his counsel, and his family, and also hearing from the family of his victims,  we accept that Mr Kane has completed the rehabilitative phase of his sentence but we are not yet satisfied that his risk has been reduced to that level where early release can be justified.
17. The Board in December considered that re-integration was necessary to reduce any residual risk and it expected Guided Releases and Release to Work to test in the community the new skills he has learned.  For the reasons noted in the PAR, that re-integration plan has yet to be realised.  It is not Mr Kane’s fault that such activities have been delayed by Covid-19, but the fact remains that such work has not yet been done and the need for that re-integrative testing has not been removed by the other activity in which Mr Kane has been involved since December.
18. We accept that there is still uncertainty as to when Guided Releases and Release to Work will again be available, but the recently announced easing of restrictions give reason to expect that will occur reasonably soon.  We will see Mr Kane again in 6 months, a date to be set before the end of October 2022.