escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links or blue arrows below for full page descriptions

Latest Press Releases

RITA CROSKERY REPLIES TO CRITICS

(1st September 2010)

The woman whose experiences at the hands of the parole board have made headline news this week is hitting back at those critical of the Sensible Sentencing Trust and its annual Victim's Right's conference.

Rita Croskery's son Michael Choy was beaten to death by six teenagers while he was delivering pizza in 2001. Since then the now 76-year-old grandmother has attended 28 parole board hearings.

Her experiences have contributed to proposed changes to the parole board process, with Justice Minister Simon Power indicating a paper screening system will be introduced for the majority of criminals eligible for parole but unlikely to be granted it.

Mrs Croskery said today she was appalled by the uneducated and unkind comments in the media by people who had no experience of the workings of the current parole board system and the devastating effects it had on victims and their families.

She also criticised the ongoing attacks on the Sensible Sentencing Trust by "armchair experts" unaffected by the impact of violent crime on a family. Critics who continued to claim the Trust solicited members were refusing to acknowledge the truth because it didn't suit them.

"Each and every one of the victims seek out the Sensible Sentencing Trust of their own accord, there is never any pressure put to bear on anyone to join," said Mrs Croskery.

"Personally I joined because I made a vow to my son as he lay in his coffin to do whatever I could to try to prevent these horrific crimes and the Trust is the organisation achieving the most in terms of positive and common sense justice reform.

"Along my journey I have met hundreds of victims and families associated with the Trust who all say belonging to the organisation has been empowering and healing.

"As Garth McVicar says, it's a club no one would ever want to belong to, and I only hope those who criticise our decision to fight for what we believe in never have to join our club."

Mrs Croskery said she and other Trust members were fed up with being portrayed as "lost souls hell-bent on revenge" when in fact they were ordinary Kiwis who had experienced extraordinarily sad events and had first hand knowledge about the failings in the justice system and valid views on how to improve it.

Regards,

Rita Croskery

Permanent Link