I am totally opposed to capital Punishment and have been for half a century.

I guess the doubts began with the last execution in NZ when Wanganui Farmer Walter James Bolton died by Hanging at Mt Eden Prison, convicted of poisoning his wife Beatrice with Arsenic allegedly from sheep dip. Unusual in that it was reported he died protesting his innocence until the drop, something that must have been traumatic for those carrying out the grizzly judicial process. Subsequently his guilt has been further eroded by admission the well the couple drew domestic water from had residual levels of Arsenic.

That aside my opposition was not consolidated for perhaps another decade or more when my two daughters were emerging adults and I began to ponder just how one might deal with such final sanction in full knowledge there was a miscarriage of justice involved.

Over time my implacable opposition has been tested with bastards such as Graeme Burton, William Bell, Raymond Ratima, Terence Kehoma Thompson aka David Charles Rangiharuru Ropiha) and this week another POS, ex Waikato resident Donovan Michael Duff aged early 40s, a few entries in the roll of dishonour in the extreme
Duff not surprisingly an alleged Mongrel Mobster, had killed his Daughter Maija two and a half years earlier and was in jail for a goodly time when he became resentful of being referred to as “Kiddy Killer”.
Inexplicably this bastard was working as a Vegetarian food preparer and that allowed him to access a kitchen knife on a sign out system, and quite a large weapon it was, long, sufficient to enter a fellow inmate and protrude out the other side of the mid section of a first victim who survived the single stabbing attack and another who must have riled Duff further as he was killed by repeated stabbing, one of which reached his heart.
Evidence suggests the two assaults, one fatal, had no effect on the perp who pocketed the knife and calmly returned to the Kitchen unperturbed, claiming they “Were Being Mean”, calling me kiddy killer?

No, my opposition to the taking of a life judicially remains and I really do consider being incarcerated for a very long time is possibly a far more retributive act of judicial punishment. Just consider the life led by Rudolf Hess compared to the swift end for the others convicted and sentenced at Nuremberg although the actions of the executioner Sergeant Woods in overseeing the executions does leave a degree of disquiet.
But how in the hell a prisoner with the clear lack of humanity in killing his own child was able to access a convincing weapon to enable a next killing does lead to a distinct “How the hell did that happen” questioning.
I do understand the reliability of removing all likelihood of repeat offending.