Murderer lied about living next door to victim
A probation officer for a convicted rapist who murdered Juliana Bonilla-Herrera in her Christchurch home has told the woman's grieving sister they had no authority to check who was living next door to him.
It came during an emotional exchange on the third day of the Christchurch inquest into the Colombian woman's death, in front of Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame.
Bonilla-Herrera was stabbed to death by Joseph James Brider in January 2022, just 10 weeks after he was released from prison to a unit next door in Addington.
On Wednesday, the court heard further evidence from Brider's probation officer who had been working closely with him at the time he murdered his next door neighbour.
The witness, whose identity is suppressed, relayed further details of their dealings with Brider after beginning their evidence on Tuesday.
They had been assigned Brider's case after the prisoner was paroled to a unit on Grove Street in November 2021.
During a house visit, the probation officer asked Brider what his neighbours were like.
He said that his neighbours were "all elderly people".
The officer became teary-eyed as they told the inquest they had not been given any information to doubt what Brider had reported.
In their internal case file, the officer had noted that any "attractive female would be seen as a potential risk".
Despite being deemed a high risk offender, Brider was not subject to the Department of Corrections' community notification policy in place at the time, meaning only community members were alerted if neighbouring residents had offended against children.
The department would later broaden its criteria, to include perpetrators of violence and sexual violence against adults.
The probation officer told counsel assisting the coroner, Rebekah Jordan, that they had to rely mostly on Brider's self-reporting.
"Had I received information, I would've acted on it," they said. "It would've been escalated to police."
The officer said they were unaware at the time of Bonilla-Herrera raising concerns to friends about Brider.
The court heard the officer was also bound by the department's privacy guidelines.
"What would be stopping neighbours such as Juliana, who are exposed to risk and living in a unit covered by (Brider)'s GPS from being given, for example a card for a number to call, if they have any concerns," Jordan asked.
"As a probation officer I don't think I can answer that question," they replied.
"It's a policy decision, and I would've loved to have been able to have done that in my job. I hope people further up can answer that question."
Bonilla-Herera's family were listening to proceedings via audio-visual link, including sister Saray Bonilla in California.
Through interpreters, the sister asked the officer why they did not verify Brider's description of his neighbours, given his psychological profile.
Again tearing up, the officer replied: "Under our Corrections policy, I had no authority to door knock on your sister's door to ascertain this information."
The officer added it was not that they trusted his word, but that they were limited in verifying his information due to Corrections' policy.
Earlier, the witness became visibly upset when asked if they agreed that Brider had "masked his intentions" from the people that were helping to reintegrate him.
"Yes that is correct," they sobbed.
Further details were heard about a relationship Brider said he had begun with a woman after he was released.
The officer said the development was surprising and concerning, given his safety plans were to not engage with females for two years.
Both probation and a psychologist "robustly discussed" plans to refer Brider for assessment, as one of his special parole conditions was to complete treatment if he entered into a relationship.
He was never assessed due to attempts to clarify the nature of the relationship and lengthy wait-lists for appointments.
Darius Fagan, a former Corrections chief probation officer who completed a review of Brider's management in 2022, began his evidence later on Wednesday afternoon.
His testimony resumes on Thursday.
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