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Archived Press Releases 2002 May 19th

Brutal Murders renew calls for "Whole of Natural Life"

(19th May 2002)

The brutal and senseless murders of Marcus Doig and John Vaughan strengthen our call for a life sentence to mean just that, "Whole of Natural Life", says Garth McVicar of Sensible Sentencing

This Government must surely listen to what 92% of the population voted for at the last election. Violent crime has continued to escalate and the government seems to think that offering these offenders parole after one third of their sentence will be an answer

The irony of the latest killings is that one of the offenders is likely to get away with "Not guilty" by way of "insanity" said Mr McVicar.

Kevin Ryan QC has already suggested that one of the accused "suffers from a heart condition which might have affected the blood flow to his brain". If this offender gets found "Not Guilty by way of insanity" it will mean he will serve no time in jail and not even get a criminal conviction for two of New Zealand's most heinous Murders.

The fact that the offender committed the Crime and caused so much trauma and devastation to the Victims family seems to be irrelevant.

Where is the Justice in that?

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.