Murderer to be released for 7th time

George Charles Trounson
George Charles Trounson
A Dunedin murderer who has been released and sent back to jail six times is set to be released for a seventh time this month.

George Charles Trounson (45) was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991 for beating to death flatmate Russell Warren Neil (17).

The then 19-year-old Otago Polytechnic student used a piece of broken stair baluster to beat Mr Neil about the head on June 24, 1990.

Since being first released on parole in March 2001 Trounson has been recalled to prison on six occasions for alcohol-related incidents.

His longest time out of prison was about five years between 2001 and 2006.

Since then the longest he has managed is nine months.

In 2013 his record gained another notch when he spent 10 months on the run from police.

The parole board said since appearing before the board in August 2016 Trounson had been accepted into an ``intensive programme'' which would provide a bed for him ``in the near future''.

At the time of his last appearance he acknowledged his behaviour had declined and he was not in a position to seek parole, a parole board report said.

Despite two incidents involving angry and inappropriate responses since his last hearing, there had been a ''positive shift'' in Trounson's behaviour because a medical issue had been resolved, the report said.

In 2012 a parole board decision said alcohol abuse and Trounson's refusal to take Antabuse, a medication which produces an acute sensitivity to ethanol, were factors in his reoffending.

Under his new release agreement he would be subject to 10 special conditions while on parole, including not consuming or possessing drugs or alcohol. Trounson would also be electronically monitored while completing the programme he would go to when released.

Because of his ''unsatisfactory history on parole'' Trounson would have frequent meetings with the parole board, the first on March 5 2018.

margot.taylor@odt.co.nz

 

 

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