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Basil Steven Marshall Mist left it too late to undertake one of the treatment programmes offered in jail. (File photo) Photo: Supplied
After two decades in jail, a man who sexually offended against five girls and then killed his teenage partner is approaching release without support or anywhere to live.
Basil Steven Marshall Mist, now 40, was sentenced to 10 years' jail for a string of sexual offences committed between October 1998 and January 2002 when he violated girls aged between seven and 15.
The Court of Appeal described the circumstances of some of the offending as "horrific".
His sex crimes came to an end only when he killed his 17-year-old partner, Barbara Miller, in Palmerston North and was arrested. He was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter committed against a background of repeated domestic abuse. He received 10 years' jail for those crimes as well.
Mist was aged 17 to 20 over the course of the offending.
His 20-year sentence is due to end in the next four months.
"Mr Mist also has no personal support, community support, or a possible release address," Justice Francis Cooke said in a decision issued from the High Court in Wellington.
"Without some form of protections on his release I conclude that it is highly likely he would sexually offend again, and also offend violently."
Mist had not completed treatment programmes offered to him in prison. When he finally said he wanted to do a course in the final year before his release, the Department of Corrections did not think there was enough time to finish the course.
As a protective measure, Corrections asked the High Court to make an 10-year extended supervision order, with the first year including intensive monitoring.
Mist agreed to the supervision to help him avoid re-offending, the judge said.
Intensive monitoring meant Mist could be accompanied and monitored for up to 24 hours a day. The judge said Mist could be "associated" with a particular facility for the monitoring, but did not give details.
The extended supervision order does not begin until January 2023, but if the Parole Board was to release Mist before then the board could impose the same conditions in the meantime.
A recent Supreme Court decision said extended supervision orders limited where the offender could live, and restricted their freedom of movement. It could include electronic monitoring.
* This story was first published on Stuff.
