The father of one of Jason Reihana's two victims is stunned at an allegation the double-murderer was left unattended at least three times while in hospital.
But Reihana's wife is defending the perpetrator of the Greerton double homicide as a "lovely man".
This comes after a report that Reihana was left unattended in Waikato Hospital this month while he was meant to be in custody.
In June 2007 Reihana was jailed for at least 21 years without parole for killing his former partner and the mother of his two sons, Teresa Gunn, and her new boyfriend Andrew Grabner in a frenzied knife attack in Greerton in 2005.
He also stabbed Ms Gunn's brother-in-law Wiki Ngarimu, who had been trying to protect his partner and baby.
A man told NZME he shared a Waikato Hospital ward with Reihana this month while being treated for an abdominal complaint.
Reihana was accompanied by a prison guard wearing Waikeria prison identification, but he was not handcuffed nor restrained in any way, the patient said.
The patient, whom NZME agreed not to name, said the "hairs stood up"on his neck when he realised who Reihana was.
Reihana, who appeared to be suffering from kidney stones, was left alone three times while the prison guard went for coffee or toilet breaks, the patient said.
"I felt quite vulnerable ... some people in the ward were not very mobile. If anything went down what are they going to do?" the man asked.
Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times from his Hamilton home, Ms Gunn's father David Gunn said he was shocked when he heard about Reihana's loose supervision.
"I wasn't happy about it - especially him taking up a hospital bed when there is a long waiting list for beds by law-abiding citizens," Mr Gunn said.
"But that's the justice system for you. It seems prisoners take priority over others having to wait a huge amount of time for hospital treatment."
Mr Gunn declined to comment further for legal reasons.
Meanwhile, Reihana's wife defended him as "the most beautiful person you would ever come across".
Helen Reihana said her husband got tired quickly due to the Myelofibrosis leukaemia he was diagnosed with not long after being imprisoned.
"He's never unattended when he's going to the bathroom."
His crimes shouldn't have affected what medical treatment he received, she said.
"He has a big heart and he is awesome with his children and they don't realise that when they put these things in the paper, his children read it too."
Reihana said she gets calls from her husband two to three times a day but can only visit him weekly.
She said he had been sicker than usual since Christmas, most recently being hospitalised due to an urine infection.
"The only thing that keeps him alive is 10 injections a week and over 400 blood transfusions.
Ms Gunn's uncle, Peri Kohu, and relatives of Mr Grabner declined to comment.
Ken Evans of the Tauranga branch of Sensible Sentencing Trust said that if the allegations were correct then it was an "extremely concerning" matter.
"To leave a violent prisoner unsupervised even for a short time is totally unacceptable."
"The protection of the community is supposed to be paramount in our justice system, and clearly if Reihana was left unattended it means that the safety of the public, including other patients and hospital staff, was put at risk," he said.
In a written statement, Corrections chief custodial officer Neil Beales said the department was unable to comment about specific custodial or health management of a prisoner.
Each prisoner's healthcare plan was determined on a "case-by-case" basis and was based on factors including a security classification and "known risks".
The plan determined the level of supervision, the use of restraints including handcuffs and the number of staff escorting the prisoner.
Anyone with concerns about the supervision of a prisoner in a public area should contact the department as soon as possible so the matter could be investigated, Mr Beales said.