Simon Power ... report due by end of year

Wellington, Nov 13 NZPA - The Government is reviewing rules around victim impact statements after the father of murder victim Sophie Elliott says he had to read a censored version of his statement in court.

The night before Clayton Weatherson was sentenced for stabbing Miss Elliott 216 times, police gave Gil Elliott a copy of his statement with entire sections crossed out, at the judge's request.

Mr Elliott told the New Zealand Herald the censorship was "just another way the justice system puts victims down".

He was calling for a law change to give victims more freedom in reading their statements -- a call backed by the Sensible Sentencing Trust.

Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar said statements should not be watered down, and trust members had been advised to resist reading censored statements, despite the threat of being charged with contempt of court.

Justice Minister Simon Power said a review of victims' rights was underway and a report was due by the end of the year.

He and Mr Elliott had planned a meeting to discuss justice system issues, but Weatherston's appeal against his conviction had caused that meeting to be postponed.

There were no specific restrictions on reading statements in the Victims' Rights Act, but there was a case law precedent preventing victims from criticising the offender or the justice system.

Victims were confined to comment on the crime's impact on them.

NZPA