Andrew Humpherson MP
Shadow Minister for Justice
The NSW Parole Authority has ignored a Newcastle mother's pleas to ban her son's vicious killer from release into her own neighbourhood.
NIGEL JAMES BOLAND has been granted his freedom by the Parole Authority after serving 14 years of an 18 year jail term for the brutal bashing and murder of SIMON McHUGH in Newcastle in 1992," said Shadow Justice Minister Andrew Humpherson today. .
Mr McHugh was bashed then drowned in a weir west of Newcastle – a second man responsible for the murder is eligible for parole in September.
"Not only did the Parole Authority reject pleas from several fronts for Boland to remain behind bars, but it has issued the ultimate insult to Mrs McHugh by ignoring her reasonable demand for him to be banned from entering her suburb and surrounds," said Mr Humpherson.
ReplyDelete"Instead the Authority has imposed a pathetic 3 kilometre no-go zone around the Newcastle CBD,"Mr Humpherson added.
"To show how out of touch the Parole Authority is, it has added a further condition that Boland not enter an area where he may encounter the victim's family – how ambiguous and pie in the sky is that?
Mrs McHugh and her family will forever remain the victims, and in her words she 'will always be looking over her shoulder'.
"Yet again the victims are the losers while all efforts are made to pander to the killers," Mr Humpherson said.
"Boland is a classic example of a criminal who only ever made attempts to seek forgiveness from his victim's family when he knew he was approaching eligibility for parole.
The Iemma Government must step in to right a major wrong here rather than writing one letter saying it is opposed to Boland's release and then another saying it can do nothing about it because the Parole Authority is independent.
"It was a charade for the Justice Minister to supposedly oppose parole knowing all along that parole would be granted. The Iemma Labor government stacks the Parole Authority with criminal sympathisers and treats parole as a right rather than a privilege to be earned.
Mrs McHUGH prepared a heartfelt and succinct 11 page submission to the Iemma Government's Parole Authority, only to have a pen pusher suggest she do it again because it was too forceful and wouldn't be appreciated by the panel.
Mrs McHUGH reluctantly complied but still was ignored – it is a slap in the face," Mr Humpherson added.
"A three kilometre CBD no-go zone is an insult.
The McHughs have suffered enough, now they are destined to suffer much more uncertainty," Mr Humpherson concluded.
get over it . They are good people
ReplyDeleteAnonymous' opinion is chilling
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