Kiwi killer should get payout - UN

‘‘The fact that somebody with a drug addiction and chronic depression can be locked up for 21 days is seriously alarming.’’

Tony Ellis

A convicted murderer could win a payout of up to $20,000 after a United Nations committee found his human rights were breached.

The UN Committee Against Torture called on the New Zealand government to compensate John Vogel for unlawfully holding him in solitary confinement.

An advance copy of the committee’s decision was provided to lawyer Tony Ellis, who represents Vogel.

Vogel was confined to a cell for 21 days in 2000 to help him deal with drug addiction. The maximum allowed period of solitary confinement was only 15 days.

‘‘It was just so wrong. It was plainly obvious,’’ Ellis said.

‘‘The fact that somebody with a drug addiction and chronic depression can be locked up for 21 days is seriously alarming. It’s just atrocious what happened,’’ Ellis said.

Vogel had no access to radio or television, and was confined for 23 hours a day with only one hour set aside for exercising and showering.

The three-week isolation happened at Vogel’s own request – but he later claimed damages against the Crown on grounds he had been tortured and treated with disrespect.

That argument was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2014. The following year, Ellis appealed the case to the UN on Vogel’s behalf.

Ellis said the fact Vogel had asked for the solitary confinement was irrelevant.

‘‘If he’d asked for the death penalty, would he have been given it? It’s ridiculous,’’ he said.

The UN committee agreed the punishment went too far, especially given that Vogel was ‘‘suffering from chronic depression and that he had a drug addiction’’. It urged the New Zealand government to provide ‘‘fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible’’, and said the committee expected a report back within 90 days.

Ellis said Vogel was pleased with the result.

He said $10,000 to $20,000 would be a reasonable sum for compensation, and that Vogel also hoped he might be granted day release as part of his rehabilitation.

Ellis also suggested psychiatric counselling at the Government’s expense.

Vogel murdered Mt Roskill man Peter Hoey, 47, in 1987, and was sentenced to life in prison the following year.

He was released on parole a decade later, before being recalled to Auckland Prison at Paremoremo in 2000 after further offending, where he was then found guilty of drug charges.