Lack of remorse keeps Howse in jail
A man who committed serious sexual offending while on parole for murder seems unlikely to ever leave prison, as he cannot take part in rehabilitation until he admits to his crimes.
Peter Robert Howse, who has 91 convictions, is serving both a life sentence and preventive detention for different sets of offending.
He was given the life term after murdering his de facto partner Susan Keenan in Palmerston North in 1982.
He was granted parole, but was sent back to prison with the openended preventive detention sentence in 1999 after being found guilty of various crimes, including aggravated robbery and abduction to commit sexual violation.
According to a recent Parole Board decision, Howse will remain in prison until at least mid-2019 after being declined another release.
The biggest barrier between Howse and freedom is his motivation to take part in sex offender treatment.
He is on a waitlist for a programme, but is not motivated to take part because he believes he is innocent of all the sexual offences he committed while on parole, the board said.
A psychologist’s report prepared for the board noted Howse may have seen himself as a victim who had been unfairly treated, blaming police for what he thought were false allegations.
The report also described him as having a ‘‘controlling and violent disposition’’, despite taking part in one-on-one counselling for several years, the board said.
Howse was found to be at medium-high risk of sexual offending and high risk of violent offending.
‘‘We regard his risk as very high,’’ the board said. ‘‘The psychologist says he has a criminal personality, with cognitive distortions, elements of aggression and deviant preferences.’’
He was also found to have features of deceit, grandiosity, lack of empathy and remorse, and superficiality, the board said.
He had no support in the community, but wanted to take part in self-care and release to work programmes.
‘‘But the obvious difficulty ... is that he will not be admitted to the [adult sex offender] programme whilst he maintains his present stance of denial,’’ the board said.
Maintaining innocence does not mean Howse will spend life in jail - convicted murderer David Tamihere was released in 2010 and always denied killing Swedish backpackers Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen in 1989.
But the board said Howse’s situation, being both high risk and untreated, was relevant.
‘‘Mr Howse has proven to be a dangerous and very high-risk offender. Parole is out of the question for him and, to be fair to him, he does not seek it [at this hearing].’’
While inmates are usually considered for parole at least every year, the board put Howse off until 2019 and said it may further postpone his eligibility.
Howse’s younger brother Bruce also remains in prison for murdering his stepdaughters Saliel Aplin, 12, and Olympia Jetson, 11, in their Masterton home in 2001.