OPINION: Paul Russell Wilson, or Paul Russell Tainui, should never, ever see freedom again.
Jails are built for a reason and this cold, calculating, manipulative monster must die in there.
He has twice, in the most brutal fashion, killed - Kim Schroder in 1994 and Nicole Tuxford in 2018.
Seven years after he was released on parole, and on the same night police stopped him at a checkpoint for drink driving (which he failed), they found two knives in his boot. He was put in a taxi and he travelled to the house of his next victim.
I know.
You will be incredulous about this case.
- Special report: How 'evil monster' Paul Russell Wilson was allowed to roam free
- Revealed: How David Bain's double-murdering groomsman Paul Wilson 'duped' the prison system
His first victim was tortured so brutally he should never have been let out of jail. But our system still gives these monsters the benefit of the doubt.
You have to rape or kill twice or three times to be truly locked away forever. It's so wrong.
I wish judges and the system had the guts to call it early.
The parole board spent hours and hours with this man, over years and years. He did 275 sessions with four psychologists. He had 300 escorted outings. The parole board once described him as a cold, callous and calculating killer who cut throats.
Years later, as a "fine prisoner" he had even changed his language - of course he had, he wanted to get out of jail.
His victims' families didn't want him out. They feared him and were frightened. Ultimately, their voices were ignored.
Their voices, their opinions, were part of a box ticking exercise and New Zealanders want that changed.
Now, Labour wants to loosen the laws around jail so low level offenders don't go to jail but serve their sentence at home and don't clog up the system. Fat chance that'll ever get through.
Offenders like Wilson were never the target of Labour's proposal - he's hardly a low level offender - but cases like this remind us that we want to be kept safe, and the only way to keep us safe is to lock them up.
There is little sympathy for nuance and explanation. Victims and their families are fed up with not being heard, not being listened to, and ignored every step of the way.
Duncan Garner is the host of The AM Show.
