Nora Sole's family were forced this week to relive the horrific way the 83-year-old grandmother was murdered 11 years ago.
Gary Edward Ladbrook - who was jailed for life after he raped and suffocated Mrs Sole in her New Plymouth home on February 7, 1992 - went before the Parole
Board in Christchurch on Thursday.
Mrs Sole's son Perry said reliving his mother's death was extremely emotional. "I thought I had dealt with things but I hadn't. I just buried it and now it's come back to the surface."
Mrs Sole's family opposed Ladbrook's parole because, they said, there had been no rehabilitation to control his "sexual deviation". Ladbrook - now in his mid-40s - had failed to accept responsibility for his actions and should stay in prison, the family said.
The murder and rape of Mrs Sole, who lived alone, horrified the community. Ladbrook was the first person in New Zealand tracked down by DNA evidence.
The Parole Board is expected to announce its decision in about two weeks.
