'A longer sentence can make a difference'

BY EVA BRADLEY

The family of a young Hawke's Bay woman brutally murdered in London three years ago have broken their silence about the tragedy in the hope their experiences in the UK justice system can inspire change here. By Eva Bradley. 

IT'S A dilemma which could face any Kiwi kid hell-bent on keeping a fish tank: what to do when the fish get swept down the kitchen sink while you're changing the water?

While most six-year-olds would simply start bawling loud enough for mum to come running and sort it, Catherine Marlow was never like most six-year-olds.

Always a quick thinker and exceptionally practical, she grabbed her fishing net, hooked it over the outside drain and hollered for big sister Debbie to turn on the kitchen tap and flush the family fish through the plumbing and back to safety.

It worked.

Twenty-two years later, the clever cookie from Hawke's Bay who worked hard and loved life was dead. Not because she fell in with the wrong crowd, took drugs or even very many risks. But because she was a diligent employee who went to work in a good London neighbourhood on her day off and paid for that decision with her life.

In a fatal coincidence, former colleague Matthew Fagan was also in the building on January 13, 2007, but with less lofty aims. Fagan was helping himself to the company's computers and, instead of going down for burglary when caught in the act, he chose to violently bash 28-year-old Catherine, strangle her with a scarf lovingly knitted by her mum and leave her unrecognisable body slumped in the office shower block.

In Britain, it was little surprise that such a vicious and avoidable murder attracted a 26-year non-parole sentence when Fagan was found guilty 20 months later.

What was a surprise to Catherine's family was the discovery that had the murder occurred on home soil, her killer could have been walking free in half the time.

"It took a couple of months before we realised the implications – when you come back to New Zealand and see people getting 12 or 15 years and you realise that there was actually some justice in Britain," explains Catherine's dad, Bernie.

"The police even said to us they would have liked 30 or 36 years."

An intensely private man, he is supporting his remaining daughter Debbie's decision to speak publicly for the first time about Catherine's murder because they both feel their ability to find some sense of peace in their lives is a direct result of the length of the sentence handed down to the killer. Debbie will be addressing the Sensible Sentencing Trust's annual conference at parliament on Wednesday.

Bernie says he doesn't want to see Fagan hanged, "but I do want to make sure he serves justice".

"He has taken my daughter away from me and by him going in at 32 years old and coming out at almost 60, he will experience misery, which is fair because that's what I feel now every single day. You can't take someone's life with no consequences and you do have to be accountable for your actions."

Opponents of tougher sentencing say the "eye-for-an-eye" attitude is about revenge, not justice.

But the Marlow family are speaking out because they feel that shorter sentences and the justice system in New Zealand are largely responsible for the punitive mentality of many families of murder victims.

"Vengefulness comes from having to fight for justice," Debbie says.

"Although I can only speak for myself, I have never thought once that I would like revenge. Can you attribute this to the sentence or just who we are? The reason I'm speaking up about this is because I want other families to know that a longer sentence length can make a difference.

"You get your own feeling of justice and the fact that in Britain you don't have to fight for it really helps. We were able to trust the system and know that we would get something fair and reasonable."

IN BRITAIN, murder is treated in degrees and a sentencing judge must work up or down from a starting point of 30 years non-parole for serious violent murders such as Catherine's.

In New Zealand, the rules are more complicated and open to the discretion of the sentencing judge on the day. Although all murderers are sentenced to "life" in prison, the minimum non-parole period of only 10 years has degraded public trust in the truth in sentencing, according to Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar.

"The parole system is a dog's breakfast at best," he says.

"In 1985 you got parole automatically at two-thirds of the sentence. In 2001 you became eligible at only one-third but a parole board mechanism was introduced and this year it's gone back up to two-thirds, but not as a matter of right. The public is utterly confused and families who experience parole first-hand are devastated by the injustice of it."

Few quite so much as 76-year-old Rita Croskery, who is preparing for the 10-year anniversary of her son Michael Choy's brutal killing at the hands of six youths, and her 28th parole board hearing. Give or take. Croskery has been to so many hearings to fight to keep her son's killers behind bars that she has lost count of exactly how many.

While others her age are enjoying their grandchildren, Croskery is once more preparing to face her son's killers and yet again argue with their lawyers about why the offenders should remain in prison.

And despite what critics say, it isn't a desire for revenge that motivates her.

"I feel that what I'm doing is trying to make it easier for others. I made the vow to Michael when I saw him in the coffin that I would do what I could and I have to live up to that vow. It's not about revenge."

Bernie Marlow says putting a mother in a position where she must face-off against state-funded lawyers time and again is a crime in itself.

"It's criminal that human beings can allow that sort of thing to happen to a woman who has had her child killed, and I'm sure people can see that is not justice. It certainly has helped me to know that I have 25 years before we even have to think about Catherine's killer again," he says.

IN THE ongoing debate about sentencing length and parole, the criminal has firmly held on to centre stage.

McVicar says the Marlows' experience is hugely valuable to New Zealanders because it shows the importance sentence length can play in justice for victims, not criminals.

"Those who oppose us have said it's just punitive and about revenge, but we're trying to get the message out that sentencing is about giving closure and not re-victimising.

"The parole system in New Zealand is, in my opinion, state-funded terrorism at its worst. Criminals who have absolutely no hope of being granted parole get legal aid to mount a case and families feel compelled to be there to fight the undefended corner for their murdered loved ones."

The Marlows' decision to share their story in the hope of helping other families who find themselves coping with murder, and then the New Zealand justice system, will be "hugely influential" in changing the system, and McVicar admires the family's courage.

"People have said we are radical and redneck and longer sentences don't work, but the Marlows are clear evidence that, for some families, they do. That crime wasn't committed in New Zealand but they've been able to see the relevance, compare the systems and feel a sense of injustice on behalf of those fighting for it. It's not about Catherine any more, it's about those that have to follow."

The man who led the hunt for, and conviction of, Catherine's killer, Detective Chief Inspector Damian Allain, says he isn't surprised at the Marlows' decision to use their experience to try to help others.

"I was struck by the very dignified way they conducted themselves throughout the investigation and the trial," Allain says.

"Personally, I was struck by the waste of such a young and vibrant life and the fact that Cathy had travelled the world and had gone into work on a Saturday in a safe part of London and was murdered. Cathy touched the lives of our whole team."

By British standards, the sentence given to Fagan was "necessary and proportionate" and, after 24 years on the job, Allain believes in the value of sentence length in helping families move on.

"Clearly any conviction or sentence will never fully compensate for any loss of life in the tragic case of a homicide, but it does help immensely."

As Debbie nervously puts the finishing touches on her speech, it is clear that she does not feel comfortable in the limelight, and is especially uncomfortable talking about the baby sister who became very public property only three short years ago.

With the family unwilling to share their stories about Catherine amid the trauma of coping with her violent death, the media went elsewhere and personal emails between Catherine and her friends became public property.

This week's high-profile and one-off political gesture is a big sister's chance to finally have her own say about Cath, the baby of the family who embraced life and couldn't wait to move back home to Hawke's Bay and the family she was so close to.

Making a private experience public was difficult for Debbie, but she was encouraged by the knowledge that it could help other families move forward "90% normal", as she now has, thanks to the British justice system.

- © Fairfax NZ News