An Invercargill man who moved next door to the woman he raped seven years ago is more likely to reoffend than if he was living on the other side of town, a rape prevention educator says.

The convicted rapist, Craig James Crofts, 48, was sentenced to four years' jail in 2004 after admitting raping a woman.

He was denied parole on several occasions and served his full sentence before being released, a parole spokeswoman said. Offenders were usually denied parole if they showed a high risk of reoffending and no remorse for their actions.

Crofts' victim is now living in fear after he moved into a house next door. Police say there is nothing they can do.

The two residences are so close that, when Crofts is in one part of his block of units, he can see directly into the front window of his victim's flat, which she shares with her partner.

Police have asked Crofts to move out of the area, but they do not have legislative powers to make him move.

"It's not OK for any victim of sexual violence to have their offender living next door," Rape Prevention Education director Kim McGregor said.

"Closer proximity to previous victims increases the risk."

The woman has an indefinite protection order in place against Crofts, but the order does not specifically say he could not live beside her.

"I just don't feel safe knowing he is living there, all I want is for him to move on," she said.

"When I see him I feel very shaky and that's how he affects me, it just brings everything back - I hate him living next to me."

There were numerous situations where sex offenders have moved near their victims, McGregor said.

"What it suggests is they haven't attended recidivist programmes, because these programmes make it clear that they shouldn't be near their victims because it does increase the chances of them reoffending."

Sex offender treatment programmes in prisons helped reduce the risk of reoffending. Most people who attended the programmes for one-to-two years had a 5 per cent chance of reoffending, but if they didn't the risk was much higher, McGregor said.

It was unclear whether Crofts attended a treatment programme for sex offenders while in prison. What prison he was in and if he attended a programme was private information that could not be released to the public, a Corrections spokesman said.

"The concern is not about whether they've served their time and been released, but whether they've had treatment in prison," McGregor said.

There were treatment programmes in prison for child sex offenders, adult sex offenders and people wanting help with drug and alcohol addictions, the Corrections spokesman said. There was also a waiting list to get into the programmes.

More treatment programmes were needed but they hadn't been developed due to a lack of funding, McGregor said.

When offenders were released from prison their options for seeking help were limited, she said.

"There are so many offenders who do want treatment and are motivated but they can't afford it."

CROFTS' PAST

Crofts has an extensive criminal history which also includes being jailed for 12 months last year after continually returning to another woman's house to steal her underwear, later returning with some of the underwear ripped and hanging it on her clothesline.

Judge Kevin Phillips, in sentencing Crofts for the offence, said he was a high-risk recidivist offender with borderline intellectual function. He had limited controls and a strong sexual drive, the judge said.

Crofts told The Southland Times this week he knew his victim's address when he moved next door to her about three months ago, but claimed he had nowhere else to go.

He realised that she felt uncomfortable with him living next door, but he also felt nervous when he saw her because he didn't know if she would ring police, he said.

He had served his time in jail and wanted to live a peaceful life, he said.

"If I can get over it, why can't she? It's past tense."

POLICE POWERLESS TO MOVE HIM ON

Police visited Crofts after he moved in and advised him to move out, but he had not, he said.

It is understood his special prison release conditions in 2008 stipulated that for six months he was forbidden to go anywhere near his victim's then address, but those conditions ran out nearly two years ago.

Southern District police area commander Inspector Lane Todd confirmed that police had no legislative power to prevent Crofts from living next door to his victim unless he committed another offence.

All police could do was visit him and tell him it was in everyone's best interests that he move on.

Garth McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust said the law was full of flaws and did not protect the victim in this case.

"The law should be about common sense and this is one of the dumbest things I've heard," he said. "The police should be able to go in and move him on."

There had been similar cases in the past where rapists had moved into the same neighbourhood as their victims and the protest from the community had forced the offender to move out of the area, McVicar said.

"The community can solve this if the police can't - run him out of town," he said. "I'd like to think the community would back her and the protest would be so loud he'll move on."

Todd said the scenario was similar to when freed paedophiles moved into homes which were located beside schools.

"We can suggest strongly that they move but we don't have legislative powers, unfortunately," he said.

Todd suggested the woman seek assistance from Victim Support.

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Judith Collins said the law contained provision for protection orders, which people could apply for if they felt they were at risk.