Abuser pleads not guilty to breaching supervision
A CONVICTED sex offender who allegedly slipped his ankle bracelet and went on the run for a day has pleaded not guilty to two charges.
Daniel Patrick Livingstone sparked a police search on Thursday when Corrections called police to his Upper Hutt flat that day after receiving a tamper alert from his monitoring bracelet.
Police found his broken bracelet, but Livingstone was nowhere to be seen. He was picked up by police on Friday at the Naenae shops in Lower Hutt.
He appeared via video link at the Hutt Valley District Court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to two charges of breaching the conditions of extended supervision.
He was remanded in custody due to appear on August 20 for a case review hearing.
His last Parole Board decision from 2014 revealed Livingstone had been ‘‘apathetic and lethargic’’ during child-sex offender treatment.
In a February 2014 board decision, he was reported as saying he would spend his Steps to Freedom release money on ‘‘alcohol and chicks’’ and expected to return to prison soon.
He was convicted in 2006 for the abduction and rape of a 10-year-old girl. He was subject to an extended supervision order after his release in 2014, which meant he had to wear a monitoring bracelet.
He slipped the ankle early on Thursday, bracelet raising questions about how and why several hours elapsed between the tamper alarm on the bracelet going off, and police breaking into his flat.
Police said the alarm went off between 1.30am and 2am, and that about seven hours passed before they entered the flat.
Police thought it likely, after the alarm went off, that he had absconded. They were focused more on looking for him than on checking his flat.
‘‘Police would like to make it clear that efforts to locate Daniel Livingstone began when officers first attended his property at 3.50am [Thursday].
‘‘He was actively sought as an absconder from the moment that door-knocking at his property failed to gain a response.
‘‘Steps taken included area patrols, area and background inquiries, and also checking an address of an associate.
‘‘Officers visited the property where Mr Livingstone was living on two separate occasions at the request of Corrections in the early
‘‘In these circumstances, there are no specific powers of entry without warrant for a constable to forcibly enter premises when they believe an offender is not there.
‘‘On the third visit, police took the step of forcing entry to the property, given the seriousness of the situation. The ankle bracelet was located inside the property, which confirmed that Livingstone had absconded. However, active steps to locate him had already been under way for several hours by that time.’’
He had been living alone in an Upper Hutt flat since June.
Last Friday, Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said police would review the way the incident was handled. ‘‘We will see if there is a better way we could have done it to ensure things like this don’t happen again.’’
Livingstone was alone when caught, Wormald said. ‘‘In some way, I think he was almost relieved he had been found as well.’’
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