Isaac Turetanae ROBERTS 05/09/2024

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Isaac Turetanae ROBERTS

Hearing: 5 September 2024

at Otago Corrections Facility via Teams

Members of the Board:

Judge J Kelly

Mr C King

Ms F Pimm

In Attendance: [withheld] - Case Manager

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Isaac Roberts, aged 42, you appear for further consideration of early release on parole.
  2. You are serving a sentence of five years, 11 months’ imprisonment for unlawful sexual connection, strangulation, and breach of release conditions.
  3. You have previous convictions dating back to 2002, including a number of convictions for violence and breaching court orders or sentences.
  4. Your statutory release date is 27 April 2028.
  5. You last appeared before the Board on 7 May 2024.  The Board requested a psychological assessment as to your risk and a recommendation as to the appropriate treatment pathway.
  6. We have read the psychological report dated 18 July 2024.
  7. That report assesses you as being at an average risk of sexual offending, a moderate to high risk of violent offending, and a high risk of general non-violent and non-sexual offending.
  8. [withheld].
  9. Therefore, it is recommended that you be referred for a suitability assessment for the Short Violence Prevention Programme and be referred for an alcohol and drug assessment with a view to doing the Drug Treatment Programme.
  10. The report says that based on your risk profile and untreated criminogenic needs, you would require a high level of support in the community on release.
  11. Your current position is that you are waitlisted to do the SVPP and the AOD programme, although it is noted that there is no AOD programme being offered at Otago at present, and to do that programme would require you to transfer to another prison.
  12. Since you last appeared before the Board, you have been named in two incidents and there are concerns about your behaviour and comments towards female staff.
  13. Your Case Manager has raised the possibility of release to [withheld].  We have asked your Case Manager to explore this further as the nature of your offending may mean that you will be assessed as not suitable for [withheld].
  14. Your PCO has said that you are working well as a wing worker and there are no issues with your behaviour.
  15. At this stage, you need to start working on your rehabilitation.
  16. You have until 27 April 2028 left on your sentence and that is the period over which we must assess risk.
  17. For today, your risk to the community remains undue.  Parole is declined.
  18. You are scheduled to be seen next by the Board in March 2026 and before the end of that month.

Judge J Kelly

Panel Convenor