Offender in denial over sex crimes

A repeat sexual offender that the Department of Corrections wants to monitor for up to a decade after his release from jail is in denial about his latest crimes.

Corrections has applied for John Burnard Lynch, 72, to be subject to an extended supervision order.

Lynch is due to be released from prison in January after serving four years for sexually abusing a girl for years.

He was found guilty after a jury trial, during which the court heard the abuse started the night of the girl’s ninth birthday party.

When he was sentenced, Justice Joe Williams said he decided against giving Lynch, who has convictions for sexually abusing young girls, the open-ended preventive detention sentence by a slim margin.

Lynch has appeared before the Parole Board during his sentence, most recently in April. According to that report, Lynch still denies abusing the girl. The board understood he admitted to other offending.

Lynch has done work to deal with the causes of his offending, including completing the Kia Marama specialist treatment programme of child sex offenders.

However, the board had problems with his plan for release. His proposed release address was not approved by Corrections, even though he would be given 24-hour care there – something Lynch told the board would mitigate any risk he posed.

The board said Lynch was at high risk of reoffending, and a psychologist found any offending, if it did happen, would be against girls who saw Lynch as a father figure.

He still had more psychological work to do, the board said.

That meant it had to decline him release from prison, despite his excellent behaviour in prison and various health problems.