A victims advocate says Juliana Herrera would still be alive if the Department of Corrections notified her of convicted rapist Joseph Brider becoming her neighbour, 10 weeks before he murdered her.
The Department of Corrections is reviewing its notification policy after Christchurch woman Herrera was murdered by her neighbour Brider, who had been released from prison 10 weeks before her murder.
Victims advocate Ruth Money told AM in the week leading up to Herrera's murder, Brider had googled Columbian women in preparation for his crime.
"The question has to be 'Well what did community probation do to check his escalation and behaviour?'... We do not have the high-risk ability to manage these people in the community."
It's reported that the last night Herrera was seen alive, she returned home at 10pm from dinner with a friend where Brider sat on his doorstep, Herrera felt as if she was being watched.
Herrera asked her friend to wait until she got inside her home before leaving. Money told AM if she and others were told about Brider's criminal past, then his behaviour may have raised red flags.
"If probation officers had knocked on her door 10 weeks earlier, nine weeks earlier and said 'is everything alright in the community?' she may well have been able to voice her concerns."
The parol board assessed Brider as high risk of violent reoffending and moderately high risk of sexual reoffending before he was released and put into a transitional home next door to Herrera in November 2021.
Herrera's friends, family and advocates are shocked that she wasn't notified of Brider's criminal past.
Money told AM that part of the conditions of someone's release is that they're watched, and monitored and those who need to be notified, are.
"That didn't happen," she said.
"Corrections will tell you that their policy is normally to only notify with extended supervision orders and child sex offenders, but that's an utter cop-out. The policy allows for notification, their practice is that they've chosen not to notify."
And Money says Corrections won't speak or meet with Herrera's family or friends until Brider is sentenced in December, which she says "is just offensive".
"Simply you are tying the outcomes for that family to his justice process, his justice process should have nothing to do with the friends and family being updated and told about your management or mismanagement of this offender in the community."
Money says if Corrections are worried about jeopardising Brider's upcoming sentencing by talking with Herrera's family, they could speak with them from a humanitarian perspective.
"Meet with them, you can front, you can apologise, you don't need to be culpable at that point but you can share how many times you checked on him, that doesn't affect his sentence, he's pleaded guilty."
Money told AM Aotearoa's corrections system isn't well equipped to deal with high risk people in the community.
"The probation officers are not well equipped to deal with the one-percenters or the high risk, they are just simply not."
Money has no doubt that Corrections' notification policy is fine, but says their practice in notification "is wrong".
When asked if Herrera would still be alive if she was notified, Money said: "Yes 100 percent".
A spokesperson for Corrections said in a statement, its chief probation officer Darius Fagan will review Corrections' notification policy. A review of Corrections' management of Brider was conducted in July.
Fagan said the report will be shared with police, where police will offer to meet with Herrera's family and share the report and discuss the findings with them.
"I believe this is the right thing to do before publicly releasing the report," Fagan said.
"I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that Juliana’s family continue to experience as a result of this serious and devastating crime."
Fagan's full statement:
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that Juliana’s family continue to experience as a result of this serious and devastating crime.
Our thoughts are also with the victim of his previous offending and her family as this will also be incredibly distressing for them.
Joseph Brider was granted parole and released from prison in November 2021. I have carried out a full review into our management of Mr Brider for the eleven-week period we were managing him prior to Juliana’s death. This review was completed in July 2022.
At the earliest opportunity after court proceedings have concluded, we would like to work with Police to offer to meet Juliana’s family so we can give them a copy of this report and discuss the findings and any questions they might have. I believe this is the right thing to do before publicly releasing the report.
Public safety is our top priority. Approximately 15,000 people are required to be released from prison each year and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure each person is safely reintegrated into the community and has safe, suitable accommodation.
We fully acknowledge that the location of offenders can be a concern for communities, and we work hard to balance this concern with our obligation to safely manage people in the community when they can no longer lawfully be detained in prison. We will be reviewing our existing notification policy to ensure it continues to support public safety.
Most people released from prison can choose where to live, or have provided the New Zealand Parole Board with a release plan for consideration, prior to leaving prison. For high risk people or those subject to electronic monitoring, a person’s address must be deemed suitable by Community Corrections.
On behalf of everyone within Corrections, our thoughts are with Juliana’s family and everyone affected by Mr Brider’s actions.
Watch the full interview above.
