Bet you we hear of this guy again

Stuff reports:

He has spent 15.7 years in prison since 2000.
His shortest period on the outside was four days; his longest was seven months. His average was about nine weeks.
He has violently assaulted family members, partners, police officers and fellow inmates.

An average of nine weeks! And that is until locked back up again. He probably started offending within days each time.

When 38-year-old Jason Maney was this month sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm to his mum, the Crown wanted him given an indeterminate sentence of preventive detention, meaning he could only be released on parole if he showed he was willing to change.

Sounds ideal. The burden of proof goes on him having to prove it is safe to release him.

And Justice Timothy Brewer gave it some serious thought, remarking that Maney’s history meant he had a tendency to reoffend.

A tendency? That is like saying Serena Williams has a tendency to win tennis matches.

He recounted Maney’s latest offending, involving three to four  blows to his mother’s head in August 2016. He fractured her eye socket and nose. 

If he’ll do that to his own mum, imagine what’ll he do to others?

He sentenced him to three years and 10 months in jail. With time served, Maney will likely be released in about a year.
On Thursday McFarlane, of Rotorua, said he was “really confident” Maney would change his ways.
“He’s ready for change. If I didn’t have complete confidence in him I wouldn’t have worked through all this. I’d have told him he wasn’t ready,” McFarlane said.
“I think Jason is going to be one of those who we later say ‘that’s what we’re talking about, that’s what the programme is all about’.
“Like all the other men who have walked Jason’s path, what they’re lacking is love. That’s what we’re about,” he said.

When I hear terms like “complete confidence” I get nervous. There is no basis for complete confidence. A more honest appraisal would be that this is a risk, but a risk worth taking.

I hope I’m wrong, but I suspect we will hear more of Mr Maney in future in court.

UPDATE: I’m informed he is a second striker so at least his next strike (if occurs) will get him maximum sentence no parole. He committed his 2nd strike within weeks of being released. He also committed his first strike while on early release.