New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Jahche Te Manawa Kaha BROUGHTON

Hearing: Wednesday 19 July 2023

at Waikeria Prison via MS Teams

Members of the Board:

Sir R Young – Chairperson

Mr A Hackney

Mr C King

Prof P Brinded

Counsel: Mr D Allan

In Attendance: withheld] – Case Manager

[withheld] – Principal Case Manager (Observer)

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Mr Broughton, who is 30 years of age, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and a finite sentence for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. His security classification is minimum. Mr Broughton came into prison having committed those offences when he was 14 years of age.  He did not have any previous convictions before those two convictions.
2. When we saw him last in March, we did not have a psychological report available and asked one to be prepared for today’s hearing. We noted then that he completed the STU:VO Programme and the DTP, although he had not had the opportunity of going to the graduates group after the STU:VO because he had immediately gone on to do the Dependency Treatment Unit Programme. There were concerns about the extent of his understanding of his offending and the work that he had done.
3. As to the current position, the psychologist noted that he had had a good discussion with Mr Broughton. The Board was just advised that Mr Broughton had a serious misconduct in March of this year. He was found with a cellphone, a charger, and a SIM card. [withheld] He had used them over the previous month or so to check on what was said about his offending on the Internet and also to play music. Obviously, this was a serious failure by Mr Broughton. [withheld]
4. It is hard for us to know exactly how Mr Broughton has been using the phone. We have nothing other than his word currently. We said to him, given he had completed both the STU:VO and the DTP, we thought that those programmes might have meant that when he felt [withheld] that there were other ways in which he could have obtained help, rather than acting unlawfully. As a result, he has been off privileges for 28 days. Those events happened on 23 June, and so he will be near the time when he will be able to return and have his privileges returned, [withheld].
5. We note that Mr Broughton complained about not having access to any help and support in prison, however that did not seem to us to be entirely the case.  He has regular [withheld]. In addition, his case manager said that she had spoken to Mr Broughton about his [withheld] and offered help in two ways for him: Firstly, to contact a kaumatua who could come and see him and, secondly, to contact the [withheld] in the prison to provide help from them. Mr Broughton had decided he did not want to see the [withheld]. We encourage him to do so now.
6. We had a number of further discussions with Mr Broughton about his background, the offending and the rehabilitation he has completed. Without going into great detail about the discussion, we came away with the strong feeling that it is very difficult to know when Mr Broughton is telling the Board the truth and when he is lying.
7. Three examples: Firstly, as far as the facts are concerned, he still maintains [withheld] was present at both of the offences, but there is no evidence to support that and we reject it. Secondly, he said to us today that he was motivated to do one-on-one work with a psychologist and he had always said that. That claim was in conflict with the note that the psychologist had made immediately after he spoke to Mr Broughton and is in the most recent report provided of June 2023. Then, finally, we note that in the cultural report Mr Broughton explained that he had had an excellent childhood. However, he has said he [withheld]. It may be there are, understandable explanations for all of this, but we remain concerned about how much of what Mr Broughton tells us is the truth and how much is untrue.
8. We are also conscious of the fact that Mr Broughton came into prison when he was a very young man and so he has not had a chance to grow up at all, other than in prison, and significant further work will need to be done, before any release, [withheld].
9. The way forward now is to follow up with the psychologist’s recommendation that he has significant further one-on-one counselling with a psychologist. That is likely to start in somewhere between six and nine months, given he is on the waitlist. We think it vital he does that work and Mr Broughton told us he was motivated to do it.
10. We also think that Corrections will need to try and encourage him into different situations within the prison for example if there is some form of internal selfcare, prison employment, recreation opportunities in prison so that Mr Broughton can have a broader experience of life [withheld].
11. And so, we propose to see him again in October 2024, with the hope that some of that work has been done and we can review what further reintegrated support he is likely to need in the meantime.