New Zealand Parole Board -

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

Peter LAMONT

Hearing: 23 January 2024

at Christchurch Men’s Prison via MS Teams

Members of the Board: Sir R Young – Chairperson

Ms K Coutts

Prof. P Brinded

Counsel: Mr R Eagles

In Attendance: [withheld] – Case Manager

Support Persons: [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Mr Lamont is 61 years of age. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 for the murder of his partner. This was the first time we saw him today for consideration of parole.  His eligibility date is January 2024. He has no convictions in New Zealand, but we understand he does have at least three convictions in Scotland for assaults, none of which resulted in a sentence of imprisonment.
2. Mr Lamont murdered his wife, Lindsay. They had married in Scotland and travelled to New Zealand to work. Ms Lamont had two children from a previous relationship. During the course of a day, alcohol had been consumed. Mr Lamont had been preparing food and had a knife in his hand. He suddenly lashed out at his wife and stabbed her several times.  She fell down and then, using three different knives, he stabbed her at least 26 times with 23 strikes being directed at her head, neck and upper chest.
3. [withheld]. He then stood trial, pleading not guilty and entered a plea of guilty two weeks before the trial was due. His two stepchildren returned to Scotland in the meantime, and a close friend managed his estate and looked after the children as well as able.
4. Before the hearing today, we spoke to some of his victims. We provided Mr Lamont with a summary of what they had said to us.
5. Today, Mr Lamont sought parole. He said he had completed all of his rehabilitation and that, because he was being deported to the United Kingdom, given he no longer had a right to stay in New Zealand, he would live in London [withheld].
6. Mr Lamont has behaved well in prison over the years; no misconducts and no difficulties.  He has moved to Leimon Villas from Matapuna, the Special Treatment Unit at Christchurch Men’s Prison. He completed the first STU:VO Programme in August 2021 but he did not graduate. It was said that he could revert to avoidance strategies and suppressing his emotion. He had difficulty changing his behaviour. He, therefore, started the Matapuna STU:VO again in September 2022 and completed it in August 2023, this time graduating. This time he was prepared to accept feedback.  He took ownership of his behaviour and built relationships. He seemed to have a better understanding of his high‑risk situations. He then engaged in the graduates’ group and, again, he has made ongoing progress in the graduates group.
7. Today, we did talk to him about why he killed his wife. We did not find his explanations particularly credible. We had been told by some of the victims that they believed Mr Lamont had killed his wife because she told him she was going to leave him and return to Scotland. Mr Lamont said that was not true and that they were both going to go back to Scotland, but he wanted to sell the business he had first before their return. He said that there were a number of issues between them that had built up in his mind. He had never discussed them with his wife. He suppressed his anger and his emotions, and they all exploded on that day. As we have said, we did not find the explanation particularly credible. Really, he did not have an explanation for why he brutally murdered his wife.
8. However, he now does seem to have completed all of the rehabilitation expected of him and he does seem to have a good idea of his high-risk situations.
9. The difficulty now is, when the Board releases Mr Lamont, we will have no external control.  There will be no special conditions other than a prohibition of returning to New Zealand. Ordinarily,  the Board assesses risk on the basis of the rehabilitation work a prisoner has done in prison, including reintegration and, in addition, special conditions that enable the Board to have a degree of control and oversight, for Community Corrections to have oversight so that if things are going wrong, the Board can be assured that that will be identified and there will be a return to prison should the risk rise significantly.  None of that will be possible for Mr Lamont.
10. Further, because Mr Lamont is low/medium security and will not fall below that, testing in the New Zealand community will not be possible. He will not be able to go on Guided Releases, as we understand the position, he will not be in Self-Care Outside the Wire, and he will not be able to enjoy the advantages of Release to Work. All of these systems are fundamental to testing a prisoner before release.
11. So, that double difficulty with regard to Mr Lamont makes us conservative about further testing and the need for it.
12. We propose to see him again in November 2024 after further reintegrative testing and, in the meantime, he remains an undue risk.
13. We invite Corrections to think about ways in which Mr Lamont could be tested in a variety of circumstances so that can go some way to meeting the Parole Board’s concerns expressed in this decision.