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Wilson v Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections [2022] NZCA 289 (4 July 2022)

Last Updated: 16 January 2025

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

I TE KŌTI PĪRA O AOTEAROA
CA51/2022
[2022] NZCA 289



BETWEEN

ALAN GILBERT WILSON
Appellant


AND

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Respondent

Hearing:

15 June 2022

Court:

Brown, Thomas and Woolford JJ

Counsel:

M Starling and N R Wham for Appellant
C J Boshier for Respondent

Judgment:

4 July 2022 at 10.30 am


JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

  1. The appeal is allowed.
  2. The extended supervision order is cancelled.

____________________________________________________________________

REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by Thomas J)

Introduction

Factual background

The original offending and sentence

While that indecent assault [of the female student] is perhaps the least serious charge that he faces, it has nevertheless some alarming aspects and indicates to me that if Alan were allowed to go unchecked he is capable of rapes involving force applied to strangers, and that is why I said earlier this afternoon, in Youth Court, that he is not only a significant danger now to young children, but potentially a danger to females generally.

Subsequent orders

Subsequent offending

(a) 2005: unauthorised employment in the kitchen of a Chipmunks Playland;

(b) 2008: online contact with a 17-year-old female;

(c) 2009: ongoing contact with a nine-year-old boy, the son of a flatmate;

(d) 2011: working unauthorised at Trentham Racecourse on “family day”;

(e) 2012: working unauthorised as a DJ in a mall;

(f) 2017: online contact with a 15-year-old female;

(g) 2019: alias profiles set up on Facebook, communication with a 17‑year‑old female.

Treatment

The ESO regime

(a) the offender has, or has had, a pervasive pattern of serious sexual or violent offending; and

(b) either or both of the following apply:

(i) there is a high risk that the offender will in future commit a relevant sexual offence:

(ii) there is a very high risk that the offender will in future commit a relevant violent offence.

(a) displays an intense drive, desire, or urge to commit a relevant sexual offence; and

(b) has a predilection or proclivity for serious sexual offending; and

(c) has limited self-regulatory capacity; and

(d) displays either or both of the following:

(i) a lack of acceptance of responsibility or remorse for past offending:

(ii) an absence of understanding for or concern about the impact of his or her sexual offending on actual or potential victims.

(i) the Court must determine whether the offender has, or has had, a pervasive pattern of serious sexual or violent offending;

(ii) the Court must make specific findings as to whether the offender meets the qualifying criteria set out in s 107IAA; and

(iii) if those criteria are met the Court must make a determination about the risk of the offender committing a relevant sexual or violent offence.

[218] ESOs and PPOs [public protection orders] are imposed on persons nearing the end of the sentences imposed on them by the courts in response to their criminal offending, applying the purposes and principles of sentencing set out in the Sentencing Act including the important purpose of protecting the community from the offender. The restrictions which then flow from both ESOs and PPOs are potentially very severe, and in the case of PPOs can amount to indefinite detention. This is punishment, in the absence of trial and conviction for a further offence. It is a marked departure from the legal order reflected in s 26(2) of the Bill of Rights Act.

...

[220] We do not consider it is an adequate response to say, in assessing whether the limits on the right contained in the legislation have been demonstrably justified, that orders will not be made in individual cases without a full assessment by judicial officers. In essence that reduces the s 5 analysis to a case by case consideration without asking the essential question of whether the ESO and PPO regimes represent reasonable limits of the s 26(2) right. That is the question raised by s 3 of the Bill of Rights Act which applies the Act’s provisions to acts done by the legislative branch of government, as well as the other branches. To say the Acts may be able to be applied in a rights-compliant way does not answer the central question, which is whether the relevant provisions of the Parole Act and the [Public Safety (Public Protection Orders)] Act delineate regimes that limit rights in a way, and to an extent, that has been demonstrably justified.

[53] We accept the submission of R that consequent upon Chisnall, the continuation of the ESO needs to be clearly justified. Whilst that has always been the case, the declarations of inconsistency made by the Court emphasise the need for careful scrutiny. In this regard we note Chisnall holds that s 26(2) of the NZBORA (the second penalty provision) is capable of being subject to a reasonable limit. “Strong justification” will, however, be required, and that accordingly is the lens through which we assess whether the Judge erred in confirming the order.

District Court decision

[31] The real issue in this case revolves around the effects of Mr [Wilson]’s extensive history of breaching the extended supervision order. That needs to be set against Mr [Wilson]’s long period without any further sexual offending and the extent to which appropriate credit for that fact needs to be offset by the continued oversight he has received from Corrections over this period.

[43] Notwithstanding the lack of offending and recognising the limits on the protective effect of the extended supervision order, by the very narrowest of margins, I am satisfied that there is sufficient evidence of [Mr Wilson] placing himself in risky situations such as to give rise to the conclusion that he displays the requisite intense drive, desire or urge. Of particular significance are the instances of online contact with a young person. Of even greater importance is the fact that this was still carrying on in 2017 and 2019. Further setting up the alias profiles on Facebook and communicating with a seventeen year old female does give the Court considerable pause for concern.

The appeal

(a) There is insufficient evidence to show that Mr Wilson displayed an intense drive to commit a relevant sexual offence or has a predilection or proclivity for serious sexual offending. In Ms Wham’s submission, more was required than breaches of the ESO and other unrelated offending.

(b) Mr Wilson has not committed a sexual offence as an adult, noting that for some 12 months in 2021 he was not subject to an ESO (although he was subject to home detention for some of this period). His success in not committing a sexual offence in over 20 years indicates he does have adequate self-regulatory capacity, and that his capacity as at the time of the offending cannot be applied to him now as a mature man.

(c) That in assessing the lack of acceptance of responsibility or remorse for past offending and an absence of understanding for or concern about the impact of his sexual offending on actual or potential victims, the Court should have taken into account the fact that Mr Wilson did plead guilty to 22 charges of sexual offending and did not oppose the imposition of the first ESO for a 10-year period. It was also submitted that there was no logical connection between the breaches of ESO and Mr Wilson’s state of mind in respect of past or potential victims.

Discussion

Should the ESO have been imposed?

(a) Does Mr Wilson have a pervasive pattern of serious sexual offending?

(b) Is Mr Wilson at high risk of committing a relevant sexual offence?

Result





Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, Christchurch for Respondent


[1] Mr Wilson is also known as Alistair Jeremy Wright.

[2] Chief Executive Department of Corrections v Wilson [2022] NZDC 878.

[3] Police v Wilson DC Invercargill CRN 225008222, 20 October 2000.

[4] Pursuant to s 107P(1) of the Parole Act 2002.

[5] Parole Act 2002, s 107K.

[6] Section 67.

[7] Parole Act 2002, s 107I(1).

[8] Section 107C(1).

[9] Section 107F(2A)(a), where the risk of relevant sexual offending is the issue.

[10] Section 107I(2).

[11] Section 107IAA(1).

[12] Chief Executive, Department of Corrections v Alinizi [2016] NZCA 468 at [13].

[13] Parole Act 2002, s 107H(2); see also Kiddell v Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections [2019] NZCA 171 at [20].

[14] Chisnall v Attorney-General (No 2) [2022] NZCA 24; see however Attorney-General v Chisnall [2022] NZSC 77, in which leave was granted to appeal this Court’s decision.

[15] Chisnall v Attorney-General [2021] NZCA 616 at [145].

[16] At [223].

[17] R (CA586/2021) v Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections [2022] NZCA 225 (footnotes omitted); see also Department of Corrections v Gray [2021] NZHC 3558.

[18] Chief Executive Department of Corrections v Wilson, above n 2, at [21].

[19] At [24].

[20] At [25].

[21] At [27]–[28].

[22] At [32].

[23] At [34].

[24] At [44].

[25] At [45].

[26] At [45].

[27] At [46].

[28] At [50].

[29] At [57].

[30] Parole Act 2002, s 107R(2).

[31] Criminal Procedure Act 2011, s 250(2).

[32] Chief Executive Department of Corrections v Wilson, above n 2, at [44].

[33] At [46].

[34] At [45]–[46].

[35] At [48]–[49].

[36] At [56].

[37] See Churchward v R [2011] NZCA 531, (2011) 25 CRNZ 446 at [52] and [77].

[38] Chief Executive Department of Corrections v Wilson, above n 2, at [52].

[39] In 2005, Mr Wilson was sentenced to a number of short sentences of imprisonment, some of them cumulative, resulting in a total term of three years and nine months’ imprisonment.


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