Open Letter from John Lewthwaite

Tuesday, 5 December 2006

NSWCCL media release: 10/2006

The following is the text of an Open Letter from John Lewthwaite, who faces a Parole Authority hearing this Friday 8 December 2006 which will determine whether he is released or remains in custody. The release of this letter has been authorised by his lawyer and is also posted on the website of The Dominican Friars at www.frhugh.org

"Open Letter from John Lewthwaite

My name is John Hill but I am also known as John Lewthwaite. I changed my name when I was paroled in 1999 after spending 25 years in jail for a horrific crime.

I could never hide from such a crime but I changed my name so I could fit back into society and try to live the rest of my life the way I wished I’d lived the first 44 years. For seven years I did just that: found a place to live, made friends, learned how to drive, and got a job. Everyone knew me as John Hill and that's who I was. John Lewthwaite no longer existed.

Then I made a silly mistake that I admit and regret. I went nude sunbathing with a friend, late on a spring afternoon in sand hills behind Wanda Beach when most people had gone home. When police confronted me they told me to move on, but said I was welcome back provided I wore clothes. I gave them my real name. They only decided to arrest and charge me later, when they found out who I had been and after they’d notified higher authorities. The magistrate who heard the case fined me $1000 but said that my offence should be kept in perspective, was not a sexual offence, and did not deserve a jail sentence.

I have been in solitary confinement for three months because of this charge and because I was hounded out my home of almost seven years. This meant that technically I didn’t have approved accommodation, and Corrective Services wouldn’t approve other places.

This Friday the State Parole Authority is due to meet to decide if I should be released. I was hoping they would realise that I’m a success story of our parole system not a failure, and that rehabilitation does work. Everyone who knows me knows I’m no threat to anyone.

Now that hope has been dashed because police have charged me again. According to them I exposed myself to two women, chased them and performed a sex act late at night in a park at Kogarah in January. This is not true and obviously absurd. I am a gay man who has never had any sexual interest in women.

I can understand that some women may have recognised my face from the media, and so thought it was me who had flashed at them many months back. But they’re mistaken, even if they’re convinced they recognised my face.

This charge will affect my hearing this Friday. If the Parole Authority decides that I can’t be released until this new allegation is dealt with, then I’ll have to stay in jail until a court finds me innocent or until the charges are dropped - and that could take months. If they decide to leave the breach of parole in place, then I have to stay in jail for a year before I can re-apply for parole.

My friends and my lawyer believe that this action by police is deliberate, not because they believe I am guilty of the offence, but as a way of keeping me in jail. They also think there has been political interference to keep me behind bars until after the March election.

Certainly the timing of this charge is very suspicious. If the police believed the allegation they could have charged me months ago when they interviewed the women. Instead, they waited until the week before my hearing before charging me.

I don’t ask the public for sympathy. I accept that what I did 34 years ago, as a very disturbed teenager, will never be forgiven or forgotten. I don't blame people for having that view.

But the public should be concerned about what is happening. Our justice system believes in rehabilitation and the chance of a new life. The system should be allowed to work without interference by politicians and others who don’t believe in rehabilitation. I’m proud that I worked so hard to be a changed person and prove the system could work.

I don’t know what I should do now. If I go before the Parole Authority and am rejected, then I stay in jail for another year and have to keep on applying for parole year after year. If the hearing is stood over until after this new charge has been thrown out of court, then police can drag things out for months and keep me in gaol. Then it could happen all over again.

I’m writing this open letter to the public who have been told for so many years that I’m evil, a threat, and should stay locked up. Everyone who knows the real me knows this isn’t true. Hopefully, this letter will encourage people to stop and think about what’s happening to justice in this state. My case has far wider implications than just one person.

John Hill
Formerly John Lewthwaite"