Home Invasion needs Harsher Sentences - Heke

5th December 2017

“It is very frightening to face the reality that none of us are safe in our own homes” Hayley Heke Sensible Sentencing Trust Waikato Spokesperson and Victim Advocate commented “our home, our castle, our haven, our safe place no longer exists.”

A man welding a crow bar forced his way into a Tokoroa couple’s home in the early hours of Sunday morning, committing a cowardly unprovoked attack with a crowbar. This is the home they have lived in for over 50 years! Heke says ““How can this poor couple, now victims through no fault of their own, ever feel safe in their own home again? “

“We need our politicians and the justice system to step up and stamp out these cowardly and violent crimes by ensuring offenders know if they commit a heinous crime, then they are going to be truly held to account and there are consequences for breaking the law; not just a slap with a wet bus ticket.”

“The government and the judiciary are the gatekeepers that are supposed to keep good hardworking law abiding New Zealanders safe and if the Labour government repeal the 3 Strikes law as they have said they will, then so help us!”

Heke said, “When you take into account that on average the 10,000 persons imprisoned or held on remand in New Zealand have 46 convictions. And then there are the burglars and home invaders who have a 1 in 20 chance of being caught, average 59 prior convictions, and serve a fraction of the 10 year maximum for their repeated predatory invasion of people’s homes.”

“So when Labour Deputy Leader, Kelvin Davis, says he wants to reduce the prison population by 30% as he did in April this year, just who does he want to let out of prison? A frightening thought!

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