Offenders reporting for community work have been turned away because of staff shortages in Dunedin.
The matter came to light when Dylan Henry Korohako Schilder appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
Schilder was appearing in relation to a breach of his community work sentence and pleaded guilty, admitting his sixth breach of court orders and second related to his most recent sentence.
The 26-year-old was remanded on bail for sentence.
The court heard his partner was due to give birth to their child in December.
The probation service submitted he was not suitable for further sentences of community work because of his history of breaches and unwillingness to complete his sentenced hours.
It was then the court heard Schilder had attempted twice to report for community work and was turned away.
One occasion was a Thursday, a day generally reserved for offenders with special considerations.
The other was a Saturday, Schilder’s allocated day for community work.
Judge Michael Crosbie asked probation officer Jeremy Burdett if Saturday was in fact Schilder’s allocated day.
Mr Burdett confirmed it was.
"That doesn’t sit very well, to be turned away from your allocated day," Judge Crosbie said.Schilder had 42 hours of community work outstanding.
"He has on two recent occasions shown up and been turned away," Judge Crosbie said.
"Rather surprisingly, I was told there are often insufficient supervisors.
"Obviously, it’s a matter for the Department of Corrections to deal with their matters of staffing.
"There can be no question that when Mr Schilder was charged he was in breach. But it does become difficult for the court to deal with defendants on these sort of charges if there is uncertainty around when they can report and complete these sentences."
As community work sentences included an expectation certain hours would be completed within certain periods, Judge Crosbie asked probation "are we setting these offenders up to fail?".
In response to Otago Daily Times questions, community corrections Otago district manager Raymond Clark said there were two vacancies for casual community work supervisors at present, which had caused a shortage of staff to cover weekend work if someone was ill.
"Community work offenders were unable to complete their hours only on two days during the last six months," he said.
"This affected only seven offenders.
"We are actively recruiting staff to fill these vacancies and welcome applications from anyone keen for work as a community work supervisors over the weekends."
In relation to Schilder, he was breached "because he failed to report to complete his community work hours for just under two months, and did not respond to multiple efforts to contact him", he said.
Judge Crosbie later asked if the court needed to account for the shortage of supervisors in sentencing.
Mr Burdett indicated the court did not and the situation which arose was a rare occurrence.
Judge Crosbie said he did not intend for his comments to detract from the good work community corrections did.
"However, I think this issue of people showing up on their scheduled day and being turned away ... needs to be looked at."
Schilder is expected before the court next month for sentence.