Lindsay HARPER 10/08/2022

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

Lindsay Neil HARPER

Hearing: 10 August 2022

at Invercargill Prison

Members of the Board:

Mr N Trendle – Panel Convenor

Mr P Elenio

Ms K Coutts

Counsel:                                           Mr R Eagles

In Attendance:                                [withheld] - CM

Support Persons:                            [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Lindsay Neil Harper is making his first appearance before the Board on a sentence of two years nine months’ imprisonment for sexual offending against two children under the age of 12.  The offending occurred between 1975 and 1991.  He became eligible for parole on 9 August 2022 and he has a statutory release date of 7 June 2024.
  2. Mr Harper has a RoC*RoI of.20533 and an automated sexual recidivism scale score of three.  That reflects previous sexual offending in 1993.  Prior to that there were two other convictions for sexual related offending.
  3. The parole assessment report prepared for today's hearing indicates that Mr Harper completed some treatment when he was last imprisoned in 1993.  The index offending occurred before that treatment.  His Case Manager has raised the issue of his rehabilitation pathway with the psychologists in light of his background.  The result before us today is that it would appear that Mr Harper's risk issues can be appropriately addressed by revisiting his safety plan.  That seems to the Board to be an appropriate next step.
  4. Mr Eagles appeared as counsel and noted the difficulty facing Mr Harper with respect to accommodation.  Whereas it was initially thought that [withheld] could support Mr Harper's release on parole as early as next month, it has been confirmed that the availability of supported accommodation arises next year.    In view of that clarification, Mr Eagles submitted to the Board that alternative accommodation options would need to be considered and he invited the Board to allow Mr Harper to return in three months so that he could complete safety planning and develop a release proposal.  Mr Eagles submitted that he has been in a long-term relationship with [withheld] who is fully aware of his offending.  Mr Harper goes nowhere without her and has for many years implemented safe practices whenever there is the possibility of contact with [withheld].  That is reflected in the material before us today.
  5. In the Board's view there are two outstanding matters that need to be addressed before we could consider Mr Harper ready for release on parole.  The first concerns the revisiting and the development of his safety plan and we request his Case Manager to assist Mr Harper with that process subject to brief oversight by a psychologist if required.  Secondly, we invite his Case Manager to work with Mr Harper to pursue alternative accommodation arrangements.  Although he sought to persuade us that electronic monitoring of the address occupied by [withheld] would render it a safe residence for him, it seems to us that proposal is unlikely to attract the support of Community Corrections. He would be well advised to work with his Case Manager to develop an alternative, including the assistance of [withheld].
  6. We accept the submissions made by Mr Eagles.  Parole today is declined.  Mr Harper will be scheduled to return to the Board in three months, by 30 November 2022.

Mr N Trendle

Panel Convenor