Bob Edlin: Double murderer has been freed on parole....

Double murderer has been freed on parole – but would he have been jailed if the Maori Party had been running things 20 years ago?

The New Zealand public learned today that Tauranga double murderer Anthony Doyle has been released on parole after serving 20 years.

It turns out he was freed before the New Year.

Doyle blasted a couple to death with a shotgun under a bridge near Tauranga in 2005 after a dispute over a drug debt. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 19 years.

He was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the murders.

He was released in December to Christchurch with strict conditions, including no contact with victims’ associates, no alcohol or drugs, and an electronic curfew.

The PoO team does not know about Doyle’s political leanings, but we wonder if he might be tempted to support the Maori Party.

Our reasoning is based on the party’s commitment to abolishing prisons.

In a recent policy statement, co-leader and Justice Spokesperson, Rawiri Waititi co-leader Rawiri Waititi explained why the party has taken that position:

Political parties from across the House have used our longstanding policy to abolish prisons as an opportunity to scare the public, despite decades of evidence proving that prisons don’t work. Te Pāti Māori stands firmly behind our policy of creating an Aotearoa where prisons are not needed.

They don’t work?

In what way don’t they work?

Waititi draws attention to decades of evidence from this country and across the globe showing “that prisons are completely ineffective at deterring crime, rehabilitating offenders, and lowering re-offending rates”.

“Over half of all prisoners reoffend within two years of their release because these institutions were never designed for rehabilitation.”

“Prisons don’t work because they do nothing to address the root causes of crime: poverty, inequality, unemployment, homelessness, racism, poor mental health, and trauma.

“We want to move resources away from ineffective prisons towards effective prevention, rehabilitation, and community-led solutions.”

Our Google search showed that in New Zealand, approximately 35.8% to 44% of prisoners are re-imprisoned within two to three years of release. Over a 48-month period, the re-imprisonment rate for ex-prisoners rises to 49%. Higher rates are reported for recidivist offenders (60% re-imprisoned) compared to first-time offenders (30% re-imprisoned).

But let’s put rehabilitation aside and look at what prisons do achieve: they ensure that people who need locking up for the safety of the public are locked up.

They are not locked up for as long as many people might like. But – we repeat – they are locked up.

Fair to say, Waititi accepts that prisons can’t quickly be abolished. He said:

“Our entire policy platform is designed to eliminate the root causes of crime; we want to create an Aotearoa where prisons are redundant.”

“This isn’t going to happen overnight, but there are immediate steps we can take to achieving this goal: We can repeal three strikes, we can decriminalise drug use, we can make sure every person is housed, and we can reform the tax and social security system to curb inequality, and lift people out of poverty.

“Countries like Norway are already well on their way to eliminating prisons. Instead of large, centralised prisons, Norway has a system of small, community-based correctional facilities that focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

“We are not going to abolish prisons when we are in government in 2026, but we are going to start building an Aotearoa where this becomes a possibility.”

We can only conjecture on whether the Maori Party – or any party – can create the social conditions that will free us from the need to lock people away.

But in the case of Anthony Doyle, someone has posted on the “Off the Chain” Facebook site an article headed:

Justice or Insult? Double Murderer Anthony Doyle Granted Freedom

The article says:

​New Zealand’s justice system has delivered a chilling verdict on the value of 2 human lives

20 years for a double execution is officially long enough. Anthony Doyle the meth fueled truck driving monster who turned a Te Puna bridge near tauranga into a literal killing floor, has now been granted parole.

​The Parole Board’s decision to release a man who slaughtered two innocent people in a glass barbie induced rage is a masterclass in judicial gaslighting. While the state prattles on about “rehabilitation” and “risk management,” the families of his victims are left with a permanent life sentence of grief.

​is this justice served or is it a bureaucratic betrayal. By unlocking the cell of a cold-blooded killer has the system proved it has more sympathy for the killer than the victims and their families

Doyle walks free to start over, the writer complains, while his victims remain silent in the ground.

In the eyes of the law, apparently some lives are just cheaper than others.

Is this a move that serves as a massive middle finger to the families of the dead?

The justice system wants you to focus on his “progress,” his “sobriety,” and his “remorse”, the writer says, but “a double murderer is back on the streets because the law just cares more about a killer’s ‘pathway to reintegration’than the permanent silence of his victims?”

PoO suspects this is one citizen who won’t be voting for the Maori Party – at least, not on the strength of their penal policy.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.