Home detention: Man who ‘foiled’ ankle bracelet told he must stay in jail

A repeat offender who “foiled” his ankle monitoring bracelet while on electronically monitored bail has been told he must stay in prison now he has been sentenced.

Matthew James Vernall was sent to jail for 16 months last December after admitting charges of unlawfully using a motor vehicle, possessing a firearm, breaching a protection order and driving while on a suspended license.

At the time of his offending, Vernall was driving a stolen vehicle which was carrying number plates stolen from a second vehicle. In the car, he had a pistol and a magazine containing five live rounds.

Vernall appealed to the High Court at Auckland, not because his jail sentence was too long, but because the sentencing judge refused to give him home detention as an alternative to prison.

People who receive prison sentences of two years or less can often have the sentence converted to home detention, under the Sentencing Act requiring that offenders receive the “least restrictive” outcome.

People in home detention are confined to a designated address and electronically monitored through a GPS-linked ankle bracelet which alerts probation officers if they leave the property.

Vernall had worn such a bracelet while on bail, but court documents say he “foiled” it to defeat the bracelet’s monitoring function.

An internal police report last year revealed some bailees, including young ram-raiders in Canterbury, were able to defeat the technology by wrapping the anklet in tinfoil.

The report contained several photos of youth offenders with their tracking devices wrapped in foil.

“Foiling” the devices was said to generate intermittent loss-of-signal alerts, which Corrections regularly receives, and which may not always prompt an immediate response.

The police report outlined other issues, including that the number of people on electronic monitoring had “grown faster than the level of staffing at Corrections and they are struggling to meet demand.”

There were just over 1800 people on EM bail last year, up from 510 in 2018.

After news reports about “foiling” emerged, Corrections national commissioner Leigh Marsh said the department was working with police to ensure methods of tampering with monitoring equipment were spotted and prevented.

People tampering with their trackers could be identified.

In December, District Court Judge June Jelas gave several reasons why she would not convert Vernall’s jail term to home detention.

These included his offending, his criminal history, and the fact the relative providing the potential home detention address did not have the appropriate expertise to support him.

But Judge Jelas also made reference to his “poor compliance” with electronically monitored bail, and offending while on bail.

She then mentioned the “foiling of his bracelet” and decided “a prison sentence is the proper outcome.”

Vernall appealed Judge Jelas’ decision to the High Court, where Justice Timothy Brewer ruled a sentence of imprisonment was “amply justified”.

“The judge’s decision is hardly surprising and was certainly available to her given the circumstances of the offending and Mr Vernall’s criminal history, the latter occupying 13 pages,” he said.

Justice Brewer gave an example, saying in April 2018, Vernal was sentenced to 10 months of home detention on 12 charges of violence and dishonesty.

In February 2019, he was sentenced to community work on two charges of breaching home detention.

In October 2019, he was convicted of a charge of breaching community work.

He also continued to offend “prolifically” throughout 2019.

“In short, the index offending and Mr Vernall’s record meant that Judge Jelas was amply justified in concluding that a sentence of imprisonment was the least restrictive outcome available for Mr Vernall,” Justice Brewer said.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. I have joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.