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Otago Daily Times
28-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
'Any attractive female' was at risk from Chch killer
By Adam Burns The Department of Corrections has admitted failures of its monitoring for a paroled prisoner who went on to brutally murder Colombian woman Juliana Bonilla-Herrera in her Christchurch flat. But the agency's lawyer said the error did not lead to the woman's death at the hands of a convicted rapist, who lived next door. The 37-year-old was stabbed to death by Joseph James Brider in January 2022. Brider had been released on parole to a unit next door to Bonilla-Herrera's flat just 10 weeks earlier, having served seven years in prison for multiple sexual offences, including rape and kidnapping. An inquest into her death began in Christchurch on Monday in front of coroner Alexandra Cunninghame. After beginning with a karakia, Cunninghame paid tribute to the woman who had been killed in such a "brutal, callous, and depraved" fashion. The coroner offered a message of condolences to Bonilla-Herrera's family in Spanish. "I know Juliana was a vibrant, adventurous and interesting person, and that she deserves to be remembered in so many more ways than the terrible way in which she died," she said. Family members were dialled into the hearing from the United States, with interpreters relaying in-court proceedings to them. Lawyers for the various agencies also expressed their sympathies as they began their respective opening statements. Brider was granted parole and released in November 2021 to a unit on Grove Street, Addington, three months ahead of his statutory release date. He was assessed as being a medium-to-high risk of re-offending and paroled under 14 special conditions, including electronic monitoring. Counsel assisting the coroner Rebekah Jordan touched on meetings Brider had with his probation officer, in which he had lied about his neighbours. "Mr Brider was asked about any interactions he had had with his neighbours. In response he said they were all elderly people. "The probation officer did not see any neighbours during this visit. But noted that 'any attractive female moving into the neighbouring flats, or next door, it would be seen as a potential risk'," she said. As part of Brider's release conditions, the New Zealand Parole Board requested he remain in his unit from 9pm each night to 6am the next morning. This detail, however, was not properly logged into the system. Corrections lawyer Pip Currie said the "failure" was not the reason Bonilla-Herrera was murdered. "It's necessary to emphasise that this failure was immaterial in that it did not allow, or did not permit, for the offending to otherwise occur, but for proper monitoring," she said. "Put another way the offending would not have been prevented if the curfew was logged and monitored correctly. "On the face of it, it looks bad." Because Brider was only next door to Bonilla-Herrera, his electronic monitoring was unable to consistently register when he had left his unit. The monitoring equipment also allowed, for what Corrections described, as a "grace period" of 10 minutes, Currie said. "Given the proximity of the addresses, with effectively only a wall between them, the capabilities of the electronic monitoring equipment were not able always to identify [Brider] going next door to another address," she said. The court also heard how the Pathway Trust charity had been working with Brider as part of a programme to integrate him back into the community. The trust's lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC said staff believed the parolee "appeared to be doing well". "None of Pathways staff ever had cause to suspect that he was thinking about, or planning to do, what he did to Juliana or anyone. "With hindsight, it is clear that he manipulated everyone he dealt with, including Pathways staff. "And he hid his planning from them and from others," she said. Brider's Corrections' case manager, whose identity has been suppressed, began their evidence later in the day. The court heard how Brider told an integration support co-ordinator of wanting any support available to him because of his tendency of re-offending after release. "He wanted this to be different." The coroner will examine more than 20 issues during the 10-day inquest, including pre-release decisions, information provided to the New Zealand Parole Board, Department of Corrections checks about the suitability of Brider's accommodation, how he was managed and monitored following his release and whether the community should have been informed. The inquest continues on Tuesday.
RNZ News
27-04-2025
- RNZ News
Coronial inquest to examine Juliana Bonilla-Herrera murder that had a 'high degree of brutality'
Juliana Bonilla-Herrera told friends Joseph Brider was watching her and she felt threatened and unsafe. Photo: Supplied A coronial inquest will examine how a convicted rapist was released on parole and managed in the community before brutally murdering a woman in her Christchurch home just 10 weeks after he was let out of prison. Colombian national Juliana Bonilla-Herrera, 37, was attacked and stabbed to death in her Addington flat by Joseph James Brider in January 2022 after he was paroled to the flat next door. She did not know about his criminal history of sexual violence. Brider was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years and preventive detention in February 2023, meaning he would be managed by the Department of Corrections for the rest of his life. Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame would examine more than 20 issues during the 10-day inquest beginning in Christchurch on Monday. They included pre-release decisions, information provided to the New Zealand Parole Board, Department of Corrections checks about the suitability of Brider's accommodation, how he was managed and monitored following his release and whether the community should have been informed. At Brider's sentencing , Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier described the killing as a person's "worst nightmare", while Justice Jonathan Eaton said the murder involved "a high degree of brutality, cruelty, depravity and callousness". In the weeks before she was killed, Bonilla-Herrera told friends Brider was watching her and she felt threatened and unsafe. On the night of her murder he broke into her flat as she slept and subjected her to a prolonged and violent attack, repeatedly stabbing and beating her as she begged for her life. Brider was granted parole and released in November 2021, three months ahead of his statutory release date. He was assessed as being a medium-to-high risk of re-offending and paroled under 14 special conditions, including electronic monitoring. The circumstances of Brider's release and his management were reviewed by the Department of Corrections and Parole Board following Bonilla-Herrera's murder. An internal Department of Corrections review of Brider's management by chief probation officer Darius Fagan found the actions of staff neither caused nor could have prevented the crime. In an independent review of the decision to release Brider commissioned by Parole Board chair Sir Ron Young, Professor Devon Polaschek concluded the board's decision to release him three months ahead of his statutory release date was reasonable. The Parole Board had wanted to release Brider to the rehabilitation centre Salisbury Street Foundation, but said it was told there was no bed available at the time of his release. Sir Ron said Corrections had supplied "incorrect information" when the board was deciding upon Brider's release conditions amounting to a "serious failure", but a separate independent review sought by the department rejected that allegation. The review by Victoria Heine KC found that Corrections did not provide incorrect information to the Parole Board ahead of Brider's final hearing, although it noted the board would have benefited from being advised that Corrections had cancelled the Salisbury Street referral because of uncertainty about a bed. Corrections later changed its community notification policy to include adult sex offenders following a separate independent review by Dr Gwenda Willis. Previous guidelines determined that the community was only alerted if a parolee had offended against children. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
