Convicted murderer and child sex offender Phillip John Smith has taken Corrections to court over visitation rights.
Smith is serving a life sentence for murdering the father of a boy he was sexually abusing.
He appeared today by video link at the High Court in Wellingtonfor a judicial review relating to a decision by Corrections not to allow family members to visit him in prison.
Smith accused the department of breaching his rights.
He said there were communication errors which meant he was only verbally told about the decision.
Corrections' lawyer Daniel Jones acknowledged that errors had been made in not conveying the decision in written form to Smith.
However, he said the decision still stood because various people had a say in the process and there were clear reasons to deny the visitation application.
