Corrections too slow in acting

Corrections has acknowledged it should have removed a child sex offender from motel accommodation faster after finding out children were also staying at the motel.

Reviews by the Ministry of Social Development and KPMG were released by the ministry on Tuesday and showed Corrections took five days to remove the offender.

The ministry and Corrections have been under intense scrutiny since August when Stuff revealed a breakdown in communication led to a notorious child sex offender, who was subject to a 10-year extended supervision order, being housed in a Palmerston North motel alongside 16 vulnerable families, with 41 children.

A Corrections spokesperson said the department acknowledged it should have moved the offender earlier.

They said the offender was Gps-monitored the entire time and police were alerted and provided additional oversight.

‘‘We also increased our monitoring of the offender during this period by way of home visits and checks of the address.’’

Corrections became aware of the presence of families at the motel when identifying potential emergency accommodation options for another offender.

That offender was not placed there.

The spokesperson said a number of people were involved in the decision to relocate the offender to alternative accommodation, and the specific timing of his relocation was decided at a regional level.

‘‘As soon as we became aware of the presence of families at the motel, we acted immediately by further increasing our monitoring of the offender.’’

The 66-year-old was taken into custody on July 26 amid fears he’d abused some of the children in the nearly three months he lived there. A police investigation found no evidence of criminal offending. Corrections alleges the sex offender breached the conditions of his extended supervision order by having unauthorised contact with some of the children.

The chief probation officer had completed a review into the management of the offender and since he remained before the courts the department was limited in what it could say.

The sex offender denies breaching the conditions of his extended supervision order.

He appeared in the Palmerston North District Court last month. He will return next year.