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Improved' behaviour said parole board
By TOM FITZSIMONS - The Dominion Post | Monday, 8 January 2007
Life was supposed to be getting better for Graeme Burton.
After two previous rejections for parole on his life sentence for murder, he was
released from prison in July last year.
The Parole Board noted his improved behaviour over the last period of his
14-year prison stay.
"In the last two years, his conduct has been described as impeccable. He has not
been involved with drugs and has had no incidents while in prison. Prison
officers spoke of his excellent behaviour."
The 35-year-old was reportedly interested in taking up carpentry and finally
going straight. But that changed on December 22, when the High Court in
Wellington issued a warrant for his arrest - for breaching the conditions of his
life parole.
Less than two weeks later, Burton was accused of a vicious assault in Tory St,
Wellington and a home invasion in Lower Hutt, before a final tragic shooting
spree on the Wainuiomata hill.
Long-time Moera resident Ellen Te Moni, 68, said Burton grew up in Stokes Valley
and she remembered meeting him when he was a teenager through a mutual friend.
"He was well-built. He was a damn good-looking boy too."
She was shocked to hear of the latest allegations. "I couldn't believe it when I
saw him in the paper."
Though Mrs Te Moni remembered Burton as a polite young man, she said he fell off
the rails after mixing with the Highway 61 gang and getting into drugs.
Their mutual friend had referred to Burton as a "hard case", she said. "He likes
to speed and he likes to tease the cops", the friend had told her. She believed
Burton was adopted, and his parents had died while he was in prison, but this
remains unconfirmed.
Burton first became eligible for parole in 2002 but was rejected then, and again
in 2004, when the parole board deemed him a high risk of reoffending. Even when
parole was granted last year, a psychologist recommended he be closely
supervised.
That decision is now the subject of a report commissioned by Corrections
Minister Damien O'Connor.
Killer loses leg after being shot by police
NZPA | Monday, 8 January 2007
Convicted killer Graeme Burton has lost his leg in the wake of the dramatic
shoot out on the hills above Lower Hutt on Saturday afternoon.
TRAGEDY OUT OF THE BLUE FOR PASSERS-BY
Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Cotter said today Burton, 35, had his leg
amputated after being shot by police during the armed stand-off.
A police hunt for Burton, who breached parole on December 22, intensified after
a home invasion in central Wellington on Wednesday night.
During the ensuing investigation, police found an arsenal of weapons and
repeatedly warned the public Burton was armed and dangerous.
On Saturday afternoon, Burton terrorised members of the public enjoying cycling
tracks on the firebreak above Lower Hutt.
One man, a father-of-two in his 20s, was killed, and four other mountain bikers
were injured before police confronted and shot Burton, about 6pm.
He has been charged with breaching parole, but further charges will not be laid
until police have spoken with Burton.
Mr Cotter said today police were unlikely to be able to speak with Burton for a
day or two, as he was on medication following amputation surgery.
A Police Complaints Authority investigation was underway into the shooting, Mr
Cotter said.
The investigation would encompass examining police efforts to locate the
fugitive prior to his rampage on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Cotter said police wanted to speak to anyone who had contact with Burton
during the 72-hour period between the home invasion on Wednesday night, and his
arrest.
Police wanted to establish what he had done, what his mental state was, and
whether he was affected by drugs or alcohol.
He said anyone who had contact with him, including anyone using the mountain
bike tracks on Saturday, should contact police.
The name of the man killed on Saturday will be released today.
In 1992, Burton was convicted of murder after, reportedly high on a cocktail of
six different drugs, he plunged a 10cm knife into nightclub lighting technician
Paul Anderson with such force that he lifted him off the ground.
Sister of 1992 victim warned Parole Board of another rampage
Monday January 08, 2007
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie
Police at the entry to the Wainuiomata track where Graeme Burton was caught.
Photo / Simon Haxton
Police at the entry to the Wainuiomata track where Graeme Burton was caught.
Photo / Simon Haxton
The sister of the man brutally murdered by Graeme Burton in 1992 told last night
how she warned the Parole Board six months ago that he would kill again and
inflict pain on a "whole new set of people" if he was released.
Burton stabbed an innocent bystander, lighting technician Paul Anderson, seven
times in a Wellington nightclub. He used such force that Mr Anderson was lifted
off the ground.
Burton later told police he was high on six different drugs at the time and
"just lost it".
Yesterday, Mr Anderson's 41-year-old sister Janet described how she spoke out at
the Parole Board hearing in the hope of preventing more deaths if Burton was
released.
But despite her warning Burton was freed and on Saturday Ms Anderson's worst
nightmare appeared to come true after Burton allegedly killed a quadbike rider
following a violent rampage lasting several days.
"During the day I had said it better not be another Aramoana but he kind of had
all the signals there, you know, someone going off their rocker with a cache of
weapons."
Ms Anderson told the Herald she feared for her own safety after learning early
this month that Burton breached parole and was on the run.
"I felt unsafe - I mean, it's probably not rational, but I did. You're supposed
to be sleeping in a tent and every little rustling outside your window ... even
though you're in a place he didn't know about."
She and mother Raewyn Anderson followed media reports of Burton's rampage.
She praised police for putting their lives on the line to finally apprehend
Burton on Saturday night.
Ms Anderson read to the Herald part of her Parole Board submission against
Burton's release, in which she predicted he would kill again.
"The next concern is that if Burton is released the same pain will be released
on a whole new set of people," she read.
"This cannot happen again. We cannot have another Panmure RSA, when an offender
on parole hits the P and goes on a rampage.
"Convince me that if Graeme Burton is released he will not take drugs again and
reoffend. Convince me that it is not going to end in tears all over again."
Ms Anderson said she did not want to point the finger at any single person or
process but said questions needed to be asked about the system in general.
"We've got some really big questions for society."
Alleged Victims
1992: Paul Anderson stabbed to death at a Wellington nightclub.
Last Wednesday: 30-year-old man left with broken bones and bruising after being
attacked at his Tory St apartment in Wellington.
Friday: Home Invasion of three teenagers - pregnant 18-year-old Tara Enoka, her
16-year-old boyfriend Wade Willis and their 17-year-old friend Khan Thompson.
Khan was punched in the face and dragged into the kitchen.
Saturday: Five victims - one killed. Two men in their 30s are shot at while
mountain biking. One received a serious elbow injury, the other superficial
gunshot wounds. Nick Rea is punched in the face while his 18-year-old daughter
Kate is hit in the neck and wrist by shotgun pellets. A man in his 20s is shot
dead.
Parole Killers
William Bell
* Killed Bill Absolum, Wayne Johnson and Mary Hobson at the Mt Wellington RSA in
Auckland in December 2001. He was on parole after being released part-way
through a five-year sentence for robbery. He had 108 previous convictions.
Shane Thomas Hoko
* Strangled Jennifer Hargreaves to death in Patumahoe, Franklin, in December
2001. He was on parole after serving just over six months of a two-year jail
sentence for kidnapping. He had 35 previous convictions.
Taffy Hotene
* Stabbed Kylie Jones in a Glen Innes reserve in June 2000, two months after he
was released two-thirds of the way through a 12-year-old sentence for three
attacks on women in Wanganui. The attacks took place in 1992, just three weeks
after he was released from a four-year sentence for attempted rape.
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