The Cabinet is to consider closing a legal loophole that allowed a convicted rapist to move next door to his victim in Invercargill.
Justice Minister Judith Collins is proposing a new protection order under the Harassment Act that would allow victims of serious sexual or violent crimes to apply to a court to prevent their attacker living or working near their home.
Ms Collins asked her officials to investigate late last year, after Craig James Crofts moved next door to a woman he raped.
They found that an indefinite protection order did not prevent him from living there and that no current laws specifically cover such a contingency.
