Samantha Barlow fell through a crack in the system. Now we’ve found another one

The Minns government has vowed to plug one of the glaring loopholes in the state’s justice system after discovering no single agency was responsible for informing victims when their attackers were due for parole.

Since the Herald’s revelation that decorated police officer Samantha Barlow had not been notified by agencies about her attacker’s impending release, Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong found that victims of crimes were discovering the opt-in register only in limited circumstances.

NSW Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong has vowed to remedy a glaring hole in the Victims Register system. Credit: Oscar Colman

He is investigating ways the government can improve the system to address the existing vacuum, determining which agency or agencies should be responsible for ensuring victims were made aware of the Corrective Services NSW Victims Register.

The register applies only to offenders serving custodial sentences. The minister’s office discovered that no single agency involved – NSW Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, or Corrections – was compelled to notify victims about the scheme.

“We need to ensure that all victims are notified about the opt-in Victims Register,” Chanthivong said in a statement.

“I am very sorry to learn that this did not occur in the case of Samantha Barlow, and so we are looking at ways we can improve how victims are notified about the register.”

Chanthivong’s proposed solution does not go as far as Barlow would like. She urged the NSW government to ensure victims of serious indictable offences – those punishable by a sentence of five years’ jail or more – to be automatically added to the register, and only be removed if they apply to opt out.

“If the NSW government amended the legislation to reflect this, then something like this will never happen again,” she said.

The opt-in system was designed to ensure those traumatised by violent crimes were not forced to relive the incident through unwanted government communications. The register provides updates on an offender’s prison location, and applications for day leave, death, escape or eligibility for parole.

However, without a responsible agency, victims were finding out incidentally, such as through support groups, or, in Barlow’s case, learning of parole dates from a friend.

The DPP notifies victims about their right to be placed on the register after the outcome of sentence proceedings is determined in cases the office is involved in. However, this is not the case with other criminal cases at the local court level.

Commissioner of Victims’ Rights Annette Farrell said: “Whether the system is opt in or opt out, the important issue is that victims are informed of and understand their rights and the process for exercising them.”

NSW opposition police spokesman Paul Toole labelled the existing process “unacceptable”, saying victims should not have to “live in the dark” about their attacker’s parole hearing.

“Transparency is essential for justice and safety. What if the victim ran into their attacker, if they walked into them in the street, not knowing they had been released from corrections?” the Nationals MP said.

“In situations like this, it’s clear they are given no information and left in the dark. You don’t have to go full chapter and verse, but you should notify them of the parole hearing coming up.”

Responsibility should fall under the Department of Communities and Justice and the Attorney-General, Toole said, adding that funding should be increased if resourcing was part of the problem.

NSW independent MP Rod Roberts said victims and their families should be informed of an imminent parole hearing as a matter of course.

“It should be an obligation,” he said, for the Parole Board to ensure they were given suitable updates.

A former NSW detective sergeant for 20 years, Roberts said Barlow’s case was not an isolated incident. He had heard of similar examples of a victim not being informed of such a hearing.

He said the justice system needed to ensure the rights of those affected by such brutal attacks were given primacy over the attackers.

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