No parole appeal for convicted murderer
A convicted killer has decided not to seek a review of the latest parole board decision to deny his release.
But Denis Richard Luke stands by his recent claims of being innocent of the crime which put him in jail for life and work continues behind the scenes to get the evidence needed to potentially advance his cause.
Luke was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of New Plymouth man Christopher Crean, who was shot in the door- way of his Marfell home in 1996. Crean was due to give evidence against Black Power, the gang Luke and his three co-offenders Brownie Mane, Symon Manihera and Robert Maru belonged to at the time.
All four men were found guilty at trial and of the group, only Luke and Maru are still in prison after Mane and Manihera were both paroled in the last 12 months.
The conviction was Luke’s second for murder, after he was jailed for the 1975 death of a Wellington man, a killing he carried out as a 16-year-old.
Following the board’s decision to deny his parole last month, Luke’s family raised concerns about his case and said there was a lack of evidence proving his involvement in Crean’s murder.
While Luke initially planned to challenge the decision to keep him locked up, a parole board spokesperson confirmed this week there was no record of such a request being made by the 57-year-old, who will next be considered for release in May 2018.
In its latest report the parole board said it intended to take ‘‘extreme caution’’ with his case, given his serious criminal history and that to date, his reintegration back into the community had yet to be tested.
Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST) advocate Scott Guthrie, who has also represented the Crean family in recent times, is still involved and remained in contact with Luke, who had previously told him he had no direct knowledge of the murder and had taken the rap out of gang loyalty.
Guthrie said he was still in the process of gathering information about the case and continued to meet with Luke in prison, the most recent visit being on Monday. He said he had also made an official request to see the police file and hoped to get a response about this next month.
As of yet, no information had been passed on to police, he said.