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Convicted murderer Scott Watson says he is not as arrogant as he used to be, but the Board of Parole has ruled that failure to complete treatment means he will remain behind bars.
Watson, now 49, was found guilty of murdering Ben Smart, 21, and Olivia Hope, 17, after a New Years Eve party at the Marlborough Sounds in 1998. More than two decades later, Watson still insists that it is innocent.
Watson, flanked by a prison officer and attorney Kerry Cook, appeared before the Board of Parole at Rolleston prison on Thursday.
A narrow table separated the three chairs from where Watson’s case manager and three support people were sitting. Everyone confronted the three members of the parole panel, who were sitting behind a desk on the opposite side of the small room.
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Watson, who was wearing a dark blue Corrections sweatshirt, placed a small stack of documents on the desk in front of him and seemed calm as he listened to his attorney’s introductions.
Cook told the board that Watson had a suitable place to live when he was released and had strong family support to help him reintegrate into society. Cook said various restrictions could be used to mitigate any risks, such as having Watson electronically monitored.
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Ben Smart and Olivia Hope in a performance in February 1997.
Watson was willing to meet whatever conditions the board deemed necessary, including not speaking to the media, Cook said.
Watson said he was more mature now and not as arrogant as he used to be. He was willing and able to work when he was released, and he had the opportunity to do so.
Parole Board Chairman Sir Ron Young said previous parole decisions set out several risks that needed to be addressed prior to Watson’s release, and that he needed to engage with psychological services to determine what treatment was needed.
“It seems like you got stuck in the first part and haven’t made any progress in identifying what treatment would be appropriate,” Young told him.
Watson said he had attended eight sessions with a psychologist and indicated that he was willing to address his risk factors, but the psychologist “did not compromise.”
He said he was expected to confess to the murders and explain the crime, and that if he did not, he would not be able to participate in rehabilitation programs.
A family member said Watson was “caught in a vicious cycle” in which the Board of Parole told him to receive proper treatment, but Corrections told him that treatment was not available to him.
JOSEPH JOHNSON / Stuff.co.nz
Protesters gathered outside the Christchurch High Court in October 2016 as part of a campaign for Scott Watson’s release from prison. (Video first published in October 2016)
Young said there were many people in prison who proclaimed their innocence and that there were various treatment options available to them. Watson was asking to be released in hopes that it would work out, but the parole process was backwards.
“The risks must be moderate before someone is released.”
One of Watson’s support people said Watson had aspirations for his life outside of prison. “He’s a good human being.”
Watson hoped to spend his life with his partner, with whom he had been in a relationship for the past 16 years, when he was released.
The board rejected Watson’s parole, saying “the ball was in his court” to work with Corrections and psychologists to complete necessary treatment. He would appear before the board again in November of next year.
Scott Hammond / Stuff
Scott Watson’s father, Chris Watson, says he was left with an empty feeling in his stomach after his son was denied parole for the third time.
Scott Watson’s father, Chris Watson, said it was “the most benign parole hearing” he had ever attended.
“It was quite positive, really. It was simply, ‘not now’. “
Watson last sought parole in 2016 and was removed for four years before being able to appear again, something his father described as vindictive. Having the next hearing in November was better, but he was left with an empty feeling in his stomach.
“It’s not the best thing that could happen, but it’s not the worst.”
Chris Watson was unable to speak to his son, “but I daresay he’s disappointed.”
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Scott Watson was 27 when he was found guilty of murdering Olivia Hope and Ben Smart. He will turn 50 next year.
Meanwhile, there was a court of appeals hearing to wait for next year, and requesting bail before that was still an option, he said.
Smart and Hope disappeared on January 1, 1998, after seeing each other in the new year at Furneaux Lodge.
The young friends had left the party and returned to Hope’s yacht named Tamarack.
When they found there was no place to sleep there, they got into a water taxi that left two other people. They asked the driver, Guy Wallace, if there was anywhere to stay on the coast, at which point another man in the water taxi said they could stay in his boat.
They were last seen getting on a yacht with the mystery man around 4am. Their bodies have never been found, despite an extensive search.
Watson, who was 26 when Smart and Hope disappeared, was found guilty of their murders in May 1999 after a three-month trial and sentenced to at least 17 years in prison.
He has tried to overturn his convictions on numerous occasions without success.
In June, the justice minister and the governor general referred the case to the Court of Appeal after a report by retired High Court judge Sir Graham Panckhurst said new forensic evidence should be examined.
