Yet another manifestly unjust
NZ’s three strikes law is once again undermined by a third striker escaping a penalty of maximum sentence with no parole. Let’s look at the case of Bailey Sanders.
- 1st strike – knife attack on two members of public in 2014. Got 32 months.
- 2nd strike – assault on another inmate in 2016. Got five years
- 3rd strike – wounding with intent a prisoner plus assaulting a guard in 2018.
He got the maximum sentence of 14 years (which is good). But he is 23 years old and already has 46 previous convictions. Does anyone think he will change?
So he got a non parole period of seven years, plus the sentence to be concurrent with current ones.
I guess the only upside is that as he seems determined to keep offending within prison, he probably never will actually get parole. The challenge will be how to keep other prisoners safe from him.