Robin PITNEY - 02/09/2019

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002

Robin James PITNEY

Hearing: 2 September 2019

at Rolleston Prison

Members of the Board:

  • Sir Ron Young – Chairperson
  • Assoc Prof. P Brinded
  • Mr P Elenio

Counsel:

  • Mr M Starling

Observer:

  • Mr L Pullan – Principal Psychologist

Supporters:

  • [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Mr Pitney was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and aggravated robbery in 1992. He has a current security rating of low. He is 43 years of age. He has a high RoC*RoI of 0.8.
  2. Since his imprisonment in 1992 he has committed a number of offences including wilful damage, assault with a weapon, escaping from custody, possession of heroin and breach of special conditions. He has had four recalls from prison, the most recent in 2016 and 2017.
  3. The Board last saw him in September 2018. He then completed the Drug Treatment Programme and was to do the Special Treatment Unit Rehabilitation Programme (STURP). The Board then suggested he needed to develop a reintegration and release proposal.
  4. As far as the current situation is concerned, we have a psychological report. The psychologist noted that the four recalls all essentially arise from the misuse of drugs after release. Mr Pitney has had very short periods of time back in the community.
  5. Since the Board last saw him he had completed the STURP in February 2019. He had spent two months in the graduate group and then left wanting to transfer to Rolleston Prison. The psychologist expressed some concern that Mr Pitney had not spent what was seen as an appropriate period of time in the graduates group.
  6. We agree with that analysis and express our concern that Mr Pitney, given his past history, left early and would not have got the full benefit from the STURP maintenance.
  7. As to the current position, Mr Pitney seems to be doing well currently in Rolleston Prison. He has had [withheld] counselling with three further counselling sessions to go. A family member and a friend were present today and they said that they will provide good support for Mr Pitney on any release.
  8. Mr Pitney remains at very high risk of offending. We are cautious about his release given his history of recalls. Mr Pitney proposes to go to [withheld] and we are told that they will accept him for further release period.
  9. We consider that Mr Pitney remains an undue risk. We think there is substantial or significant further information required by the Board before it could be satisfied risk had been reduced below undue. These things we think need to be done. First Mr Pitney should invite the [withheld] to attend the next Board meeting. Mr Pitney says he has been working for [withheld], but we have no information about what work has been done and what support on release can be offered to him. Secondly, we would also like to see [withheld] at the next Parole Board meeting. Again, it would be valuable for us to discuss what further support they could offer Mr Pitney given his history of inability to complete that programme. Thirdly, we have asked, and Mr Pitney has agreed, to provide a report from the counsellor counselling him for [withheld].
  10. Finally, we think that a reintegration hui would be valuable to discuss future planning with [withheld] who attended the Parole Board hearing today and all of the professionals involved in his caring including of course [withheld].
  11. We will therefore see him again in March 2020 with the hope that work has been done by then and that those who were indicated we would benefit from can be present.

Sir Ron Young
Chairperson