A man who claims he fatally but accidentally shot his girlfriend in the head from point-blank range will remain behind bars.
Tuaine Llewellyn Bevan was denied an early released by the Parole Board last month.
The Otaki Beach man, now aged in his early 30s, was in 2012 jailed for six years and eight months for the manslaughter of his partner at their home, and possessing cannabis for supply.
A Palmerston North jury in 2012 acquitted Bevan of murder but found him guilty of the manslaughter of Stacey Lake, 23, who Bevan shot dead in May 2011.
Ms Lake was lying on her bed when she was shot in what the Crown argued was a planned killing over a domestic dispute. The defence said it was an accident and Bevan had removed the gun's magazine before firing, so didn't realise it was still a lethal weapon.