A Timaru man who stabbed retired bank manager Dennis Hind in a "very savage murder" in 1997 is to be released on parole.
Robert Leslie Smith, now 31, was 18 when he was convicted of murdering Mr Hind by stabbing him 127 times.
A High Court jury accepted that while Smith carried out the killing, his co-offender, Michelle Nicholson, 35 at the time, played an integral part.
Nicholson and her three children were living with Mr Hind, who had changed his will in her favour, when she convinced Smith to murder him by repeatedly stabbing him while he was in his bed.
Nicholson was granted parole in November 2007, but was recalled to prison after breaching release conditions.
Smith was to have been released from prison in June last year, but his release was revoked when he was found with a cellphone.
In a recent hearing, the Parole Board described Smith's crime as a "very savage murder at the behest of a female co-offender".
It acknowledged that last year's cellphone incident was Smith acting in an "immature and stupid way".
"Largely this is a result, we feel, of his institutionalisation and the fact that he has had to grow up in prison."
The board ruled that Smith's lack of judgement would only be remedied by "some experience of life and will never be fixed whilst he remains in prison".
Smith will live with a couple who have supported him in prison and have effectively become his family.
He will be electronically monitored for six months.
NZPA