Ryan Bridge: The ticking time bomb in Mark Mitchell's lap

Mark Mitchell, he's got a bit on his plate at the moment.  

He'll be happy with the score he got from Audrey Young in her ranking of ministers for midterm, but I reckon he is holding on to a ticking time bomb.  

This is the case of the beautiful young Colombian woman in Christchurch living next door to a monster. She didn't know he'd been let out of prison 10 weeks before he raped her and stabbed her to death. He was on parole, by the way.  

And here's the problem: Corrections knew he was, quote, “a high, high, high risk”. Any young attractive woman near him would be a target. Poor Juliana Bonilla-Herrera. She lived next door. She didn't know about his past and Corrections somehow didn't know she'd moved in next door to this animal.  

Now, since we spoke about this the other day, a couple of things have happened. A couple of updates for you, and this is where Mitchell comes in. This guy was on parole right, which means he's been let out of prison early. Could still be in prison, but you're not because we've let you out. Now you wonder how many other high-risk offenders like this guy are released from prison early. And is this, you know, a good idea?  

Well, a senior Correction staffer this week says they're regularly being let out early and let into the community. Not just people like this guy, but people with quote, “even higher risk”. 

Here's what I reckon: this case, and a long list of parole botch ups before it, are all the evidence you need that we can't trust the system once these guys make it outside. The government should immediately pause the release of high-risk violent thugs into our communities. Everyone loves to talk about safety first, well here's a bloody good place to start. This ticking time bomb is in Mark Mitchell's lap. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, Mark Mitchell, he's got a bit on his
plate at the moment. He'll be happy with the score
he got from Audrey Young in her ranking of ministers
for midterm. But I reckon he is holding on to
a ticking time bomb. This is the case of the
beautiful young Colombian woman woman in christ Church living next
door to a monster. She didn't know he'd been let

(00:21):
out of prison ten weeks before he raped her and
stabbed her to death. He was on parole, by the way.
And here's the problem. Corrections knew he was quote a
high high high risk. Any young attractive woman near him
would be a target. Poor Juliana bonnella head Eda. That

(00:44):
was the woman she lived next door. She didn't know
about his past, and Corrections somehow didn't know she'd moved
in next door to this animal. Now, since we spoke
about this the other day, a couple of things have happened,
a couple of updates for you. And this is where
Mitchell comes in. This guy was on parole right, which
means he's been let out of prison early. Could still

(01:05):
be in prison, but you're not because we've let you out.
Now you wonder how many other high risk offenders like
this guy are released from prison early, and is this,
you know, a good idea? Well, a senior correction staff
for this week says they're regularly being let out early
and let into the community, not just people like this guy,

(01:28):
but people with quote even higher risk here's what I reckon.
This case and a long list of parole botch ups
before it are all the evidence you need that we
can't trust the system once these guys make it outside
the government should immediately pause the release of high risk,

(01:50):
violent thugs into our communities. Everyone loves to talk about
safety first, Well here's a bloody good place to start.
This ticking time bomb is in Mark Mitchell's lap. For
more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
News Talks at B from five am weekdays, or follow

(02:11):
the podcast on iHeartRadio.