However, Matete remains an inmate of the Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility (ARWCF).
The Parole Board declined to release Matete after his counsel, Ella Burton, said parole was not sought, pending finalisation of a guided release plan for next year.
Aspects of the release plan were discussed at the hearing, but all aspects of it were suppressed by the board.
Matete told the board that this was “the first time I’ve been nervous” to appear before it.
“Because I’m actually planning to get out now,” he said.
“I want to get out.”
Matete was in state care during childhood and managed only one year of secondary schooling before ending up on the streets, and then in the youth remand wing of Mt Eden Prison at the age of 15.
Matete was on parole in September 2004 when he attacked a woman he believed had burgled his house. He cut her arm with a pocket knife, causing a wound that required four stitches.
While on remand for that attack in June 2005, he threw a bucket of boiling water over a woman who had ripped off her “jail mum”. The woman was hospitalised with severe burns.
The next month Matete broke a prison officer’s arm after becoming enraged by the way the woman asked him to return a pen.
Matete’s conduct in prison has sometimes been problematic since then. As recently as 2022, Parole Board reports said he had been abusive towards staff and had been charged with misconduct several times for making threats.
However, Parole Board convenor Kathryn Snook said there was now “a sense of hope” after hearing details of a plan to help Matete towards release.
“It’s really good to hear what has been developed for you,” she said.
However, she added: “We do think there are things that need to happen which might take slightly longer than you had hoped for.”
Snook said that Matete would be seen again in six months – in June 2026.
The board wanted an updated risk assessment from a psychologist, who will look at Matete’s safety plan for how to cope in the community.
The board also wanted another multi-disciplinary team meeting to discuss the plan for release.
As someone sentenced to preventive detention, Matete would be subject to recall to prison at any time if he reoffends after being set free.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
