The Corrections Department and police will front up on Wednesday to a second Whanganui public meeting, after it was decided the Beast of Blenheim will live in a state house on prison land.
The meeting has been organised by Whanganui mayor Annette Main, who says that discussions with authorities have allayed many of her concerns about convicted serial sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson.
She says the meeting will allow people to see for themselves Wilson will "not be living a free and easy lifestyle" and will also not be part of the community.
Wilson, 65, has spent 18 years behind bars and cannot be kept in prison any longer. He will be released next month to live in a house on Whanganui Prison land.
Ms Main said Wilson's GPS monitoring system will enable Corrections staff to not only monitor his whereabouts at all times but to also enforce exclusion zones where he will not be allowed.
He is also required to be accompanied by two people whenever he leaves his property.
Whanganui MP Chester Borrows, who is also Courts Minister, also plans to attend Wednesday's meeting.
He told media he believes Whanganui was chosen for Wilson's release "because of the spread of his victims across (other parts of) New Zealand and the ability of Corrections' resources to manage him there".
"I don't think Corrections decided on Whanganui for the hell of it, I think they have placed him there probably for good reason around their resources and the distance between him and his victims."
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia - who is the MP for Te Tai Hauauru, which encompasses Whanganui - says the community should have been consulted on Corrections' decision.
"He's got to go somewhere, the law says that he has to be released from prison, and I guess that people need to have comfort that their rights and their safety will be protected."
She lives on the same street as Wilson will be housed.
Another public meeting, held on Sunday, organised by councillors Michael Laws and Ray Stevens, called for the Whanganui District Council to take all action - legal, political and administrative - to stop Wilson being released.
Wilson was jailed in 1996 for sex crimes against women, children and animals over 25 years in Blenheim and cannot legally be held any longer, despite experts' fears he will reoffend.
NZN