Prisoner’s case to go to governor-general
A plea is to be made to the governor-general to end the sentence of New Zealand’s longest serving prisoner, Alf Vincent.
A lawyer for the elderly Canterbury man has confirmed a second front is being opened in the fight to free Vincent who has been in prison for 52 years.
Governor-general Dame Patsy Reddy is to be asked to remit his sentence, Tony Ellis confirmed.
He expected to send Vincent’s case to the governor-general this week. The governor-general’s website said that where a miscarriage of justice was likely to have occurred, she would normally exercise the royal prerogative of mercy by referring the case back to the court.
But Ellis was asking for a remission of Vincent’s sentence.
‘‘The grant of a pardon, or the suspension or remission of a sentence is extremely rare,’’ the website said.
An application is also before the High Court to review the decision to refuse parole to Vincent who is soon to turn 83. It is expected to be heard in November. At a hearing for that case last week, Ellis said Vincent’s continued detention was ludicrous.
Vincent was New Zealand’s longest serving prisoner, having been sentenced to the open-ended term of preventive detention in 1968, on charges of indecent assault. He had advanced dementia and was in a highdependency unit at Rimutaka Prison, north of Wellington.
As well as his dementia he had been assessed as having an IQ of 65, with especially low verbal comprehension, the court heard.
Crown lawyer Austin Powell told the court Vincent could still walk and was still capable of approaching other prisoners inappropriately.
Vincent has had about 50 Parole Board hearings but so far the board has deemed him an undue risk to the safety of the public.
A year ago it said he still showed some sexualised behaviour and invaded other people’s space.