Sex offender wins name removal bid

A convicted paedophile has been removed from the Child Sex Offender Register because of a legal loophole, despite efforts from Parliament to fix flaws in the law.

Parliament went into urgency in March to amend legislation, after 107 people were removed from the register when they should have been on it.

The register was created in October, after the Government said it wanted to cut the risk posed by serious child-sex offenders.

The man, who has permanent name suppression, was sentenced in Wellington District Court in May 2014 to concurrent prison terms totalling 26 months on charges of having sexual connection with a young person, and doing an indecent act.

He was freed on parole in June last year, with conditions that remained in effect until six months after his sentence expiry date.

The register came into effect on October 14, with its administration becoming the responsibility of the police. They duly registered the man as a child-sex offender.

The next month he sought his removal, pointing out he was not covered by the legislation because he was not serving a prison sentence. Police subsequently revoked his placement on the register, along with those of 106 others.

In March, the legislation was amended to include people ‘‘still subject to release conditions following the sentence expiry date of that sentence’’.

The man was once again placed on the register, because police felt his post-sentence expiry conditions fell within the amended act.

But the man and his lawyer argued that, because his name had been revoked from the register before the amendments were made to the act, there was no justification for his inclusion on it. This week, Justice John Faire agreed.

Labour’s police spokesman Stuart Nash, said he wasn’t impressed. ‘‘The aim of the register is to keep our community safe. If there any loopholes in the register, then potentially the public are at risk ...

‘‘It’s not a good look for Parliament, in general, to close a loophole for a third time. In the end, it comes down to sloppy drafting or a sloppy review. If it does come back to the House for a third time, I will give it my support, but we will want to make sure it is right this time.’’

Police Minister Paula Bennett was contacted for comment.