Man wins with ESO appeal
A man with more than 50 convictions including violence, rape, driving and dishonesty offences has successfully overturned a court order that he be monitored long term.
Corrections sought to have Zebulan Joseph Shortcliffe subject to a three year Extended Supervision Order (ESO) after his release from prison following a 10 year sentence for rape, assault with intent to commit rape, attempted sexual violation and indecent assault.
The charges arose after Shortcliffe raped and attempted to rape two women on the same day in 2005, in Manurewa in south Auckland. He was released from prison in 2015.
In May 2016 Judge David Mather granted the ESO - an order that allows the stringent monitoring of recently released criminals thought to be at risk of committing further sexual or violent offences.
In his judgment Judge Mather ruled Shortcliffe had a ‘‘pervasive pattern of serious violent offending’’, and a ‘‘high risk’’ of sexual and violent reoffending.
A report writer noted Shortcliffe had not accepted res- ponsibility for his sexual offending and ‘‘vehemently denied any wrong doing’’.
However the report also noted the offending was ‘‘opportunistic, rather than reflecting any long term planning or explicit sexual fantasy or anger’’.
The Court of Appeal overturned the granting of the ESO in a recently released decision, saying Judge Mather’s conclusion that Shortcliffe’s offending was a ‘‘pervasive pattern of serious violent offending’’ was wrong.
The judgment said that although Shortcliffe had a lengthy criminal history, it was mostly for low level offences including dishonesty, property and driving charges.
The Court of Appeal was unable to find out any more information about the violence offences he had committed which included two common assaults, assault with a blunt instrument, and two convictions for injuring with intent to injure’’.
The Court of Appeal noted: ‘‘Our conclusion that there was no qualifying pervasive pattern of either serious sexual or violent offending here suffices to dispose of the appeal in Mr Shortcliffe’s favour.’’