By Janika Ter Ellen
A convicted murderer is taking the Department of Corrections to court for confiscating his Cosmopolitan magazine.
Stephen Hudson is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole of 16 years for the cold-blooded murder of 22-year-old Nicholas Pike in 2002.
Mr Pike was last seen in Mt Maunganui in March 2002, but his body's never been found.
Now, his killer has filed High Court papers against Corrections for stripping him of the Cosmopolitan he was reading, something his victim's family just can't believe.
"What human rights did Nicholas have?" asks Evelyn Pike, Mr Pike's mother.
"Stephen Hudson killed him execution style in cold blood. He didn't consider his human rights - how can he be worrying about his own?"
The particular edition of the women's magazine is thought to contain pictures of fake breasts, comparing them with natural ones.
It is understood Hudson will use the 'Boobs on Bikes' event to bolster his legal argument, asking if kids could look at breasts on the street, why couldn't he look at them in the privacy of his Rimutaka prison cell?
Hudson's mother Catherine billing told the Dominion Post: "It's a simple magazine, it's not pornographic or R18 or anything. There are lots of good articles in them."
The Corrections Act prohibits inmates' access to pornographic material, and gives prison managers the power to ban anything he or she deems "objectionable".
But that doesn't mean prison officers can just do what they want.
"If he deems the Cosmopolitan magazine to be objectionable, there has to be some kind of rational connection or reason for that, otherwise it could very well be a breach of Mr Hudson's right to freedom of expression," says Michael Bott, human rights lawyer.
Corrections is refusing to comment.
3 News