Hundreds march to change bail laws

Christie Marceau’s mother wears a pendant around her neck containing the ashes of her daughter.

‘‘This is all I’ve been left with,’’ Tracey Marceau said.

She and her husband Brian wept and hugged after addressing hundreds of protesters outside the High Court at Auckland, who gathered yesterday to call for tougher bail laws.

Mrs Marceau’s daughter died in her arms at their North Shore home in November. A man has since been charged with Ms Marceau’s murder.

Many of the protesters in the crowd yesterday wore Ms Marceau’s favourite colour, turquoise, and T-shirts bearing her smiling face. They listened to speeches from Brian and Tracey Marceau, as well as Sensible Sentencing Trust founder Garth Mcvicar.

Mr Marceau thanked them for showing their support.

‘‘This sort of helps us restore some of our faith.’’

Mrs Marceau also thanked the crowd, which included her family and daughter’s friends. ‘‘Best of all, thank Christie, because she was such an awesome kid.’’

She called on the crowd to keep the pressure up on bail law reforms. ‘‘Let’s just keep this going in her name. We’ve got to have change.’’

Charlie Borrell told the crowd that nothing had changed in the five years since his son was murdered by a man out on bail.

‘‘Another young life has been lost.’’ He said had Christie’s law been in place before 2007, his son would still be alive. ‘‘We all thought this stuff wouldn’t happen to us, it only happens on TV or in the newspapers, but believe me, you are not immune.’’

One protester, who identified herself as Maureen, said she was tired of people being let out on bail.

Protesters like Maureen held placards with messages including ‘‘ Another bail balls-up’’ and ‘‘Who is next?’’. They also signed a petition calling for bail laws to be amended and judges to be held accountable for their decisions. The changes being sought are: No bail for any person accused of an offence involving serious violence as defined by the ‘‘three strikes’’ legislation.

No bail for any person accused of an offence that attracts a sentence of two years or more.

Police given the discretionary power to veto a judge’s decision to grant bail, which would then automatically move the application to a higher court.

The views of victims of violent offending be given paramount consideration.

Every serious bail breach is formally investigated.

More accountability for judges who expose the public to undue risk.

Commenting earlier, Prison Reform Society president Peter Williams QC said the bail laws were already tough and a person’s freedom should not be taken away unless they were found guilty.

‘‘If every time there is a tragedy, there is an emotional response, as was done with the provocation law, our law would be based on poor foundations. Our heart goes out to the victim but our laws cannot be based on emotion.’’

Criminal Bar Association vicepresident John Anderson said the changes being sought were ‘‘over the top’’.