Bailey Junior Kurariki may be released in March. Photo / David White
The country's youngest killer will remain behind bars for at least another two months while authorities consider the best way of managing his possible early release back into the community.
Bailey Junior Kurariki appeared before the Parole Board for a sixth time on Friday, with the hearing adjourned
until a date in March so authorities could obtain a residential restrictions report and detailed relapse prevention plan.
That could mean Kurariki is released in March but with strict conditions - which could include an order where he is required to wear an electronic monitoring device to track his every movement.
In the meantime, Kurariki is to be transferred from Hawke's Bay Prison to an undisclosed prison so he can be closer to family members for the final few months of his sentence.
Complicating Kurariki's potential early release is the fact his father Bailey Kurariki Snr suffered a heart attack at work on Monday and is now in a critical condition in Middlemore Hospital, South Auckland. The board had heard earlier how his father had promised Kurariki Jnr a job when he was out of jail.
Kurariki was 12 years and four months old when he was involved, along with five others, in the baseball bat killing of South Auckland pizza delivery man Michael Choy in September 2001.
Kurariki was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Although the judge hearing Kurariki's parole indicated the board was considering releasing the 18-year-old before his sentence was up, Parole Board head Judge David Carruthers stressed that was not in fact the case.
Judge Carruthers said the decision made by the current panel hearing Kurariki's parole was not binding on the panel that would consider his application for parole in March.
However, Choy's mother Rita Croskery - who appeared before the board at a victims' hearing in Hawke's Bay on Tuesday - said the signs were that Kurariki would not have to serve his entire sentence. That was a disappointment, she said. Croskery had argued the longer Kurariki remained behind bars the better.
"He has ruined our lives. It has aged us all. He does not understand what he has done. No one in the community wants him back there."
