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Preventative Detention
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 10:00 amThe Dom Post reports:
A Napier paedophile has been sentenced to preventive detention on 38 charges involving 11 young boys during the past seven years.
Owen Stanley Draper, 66, pleaded guilty to the charges in February and was sentenced yesterday by Justice Ronald Young in the High Court at Napier.
Justice Young said Draper, who had three previous convictions for sexual offending, must serve at least six years in prison before he can apply to be freed.
This upset the mother of one of the victims, who said she was alarmed at the possibility that Draper might be out of prison in six years.
Preventative detention is the right sentence. Unlike parole, where you get it almost automatically unless you are clearly a risk – you don’t get out of preventative detention unless you are clearly not a risk – basically the burden of proof changes.
But despite that, it would be reassuring to have a longer period before he can be considered for release. He has molested 11 kids over seven years, and has convictions over the last 20 years. I just hope that the Parole Board are very very cynical about any professed rehabilitation when he comes up for consideration in six years.
Tags: law & order, preventative detention