The name of Tony Douglas Robertson is finally known to us all.  The name suppression of the killer of Blessie Gotingco lifted yesterday by the Supreme Court.  We knew his face but not his name since his guilty verdict in May.

So many questions remains, and not just the obvious ones. 

That suppression has always concerned me.  Why? The High Court and the Appeals Court allowed that as Robertson might appeal and there is a long standing right that while legal action is underway, previous convictions and criminal history need to be kept out of consideration. 

I don't agree with that: it was disrespectful to the court and the jury and the judge who first ruled the offender guilty. In my book one guilty in a court and the suppression is automatically lifted.  John Banks battled his case in the full light of the world yet a convicted kidnapper and violent offender was afforded anonymity. Thats out of whack.

And now we know Tony Tobertson's history. A long, dark one that included violence in his early teens, early adoption by gangs. Schoolmates tell of a fascination with younger kids.  A raft of violent crimes and convictions from the age of 16. And then the first major offence.  The kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 5-year-old in Tauranga.  A crime solved by chance and the policeman who discovered Robertson and the girl believes if he hadn't arrived the 5-year-old would have been killed.

So Justice Patrick Keane sentenced him to 8-and-a-half years - not life - saying that he is not simply to be assumed a lost cause at the age of 19. 

The judge is being pilloried.  Possibly rightly so. Everyone is saying he got it wrong and Robertson should have been given preventive detention. 

That said, Justice Keane was following the letter of the law.  He had sat through all the case.  He knows it better than you and I.  He had been advised by psychiatrists and trained heavily on sentencing. It's a terrible call to make and judges dread it.  They're not incompetent. But they get it wrong. 

What he did is offer Robertson was the chance to turn himself around under the care of Corrections.  He refused it, never attending any courses or opportunities offered him.  That should not have been his choice and Corrections also failed in the task given them to rehabilitate the animal. In my view the lack of remorse over nearly a decade should have meant another trip to the sentencing dock before he was released. Why doesn't that happen?

So Robertson was released with a GPS tracker attached to him.  Paroled to a house 500 metres from a school. In fact there are 6 schools within short distance of his house.  Who made that call? And then he ran Blessie over and inflicted an unspeakable death.

Its easy to blame just the judge, but its deeper than that.  The suppression laws, the sentencing guidelines, the ability of Corrections to manage prisoners and any attempted rehabilitation, the supervision orders and parole guidelines. They all have blood on their hands and need to rethink their processes.