Jason Karl Blackler (53) was jailed for seven years for the manslaughter of 66-year-old Alan James Fahey and had three months tacked on to his sentence for a domestic assault which took place earlier.
He appeared before the Parole Board last month and accepted he would not be getting early release.
Panel convener Judge Geoffrey Ellis said Blackler appeared to be making steady progress, having done 10 months of a year-long course for violent offenders at Christchurch Men’s Prison.
However, a Corrections officer updated the board that the inmate had been exited from the programme just days earlier "due to ongoing entitlement and limited progress in treatment".
Blackler said he was unsure why he had been ejected from the programme and failed to disclose he had been on a "behaviour management plan" at the time.
The board was also later informed he had been charged with misconduct in August for having excess items in his cell.
On October 25, 2016, Blackler was drinking with Mr Fahey at the victim’s Brockville home.
The trial heard there had been an argument between the men before the defendant launched his attack.
A postmortem found Mr Fahey suffered a fractured bone in his neck, a split lip from his mouth to his nose, a broken nose and a torn eyelid, as well as extensive bruising on the inner side of both eye sockets, cheeks and throat.
He was found dead in a pool of his own blood on the floor of his lounge the next day.
Evidence showed Blackler tried to clean the blood off himself in the bathroom before taking a taxi to his partner’s home.
He also made a phone call to her in which he said he might have killed his friend.
The Parole Board said Blackler had 176 convictions since the 1980s, predominantly for dishonesty, violence, weapons and drugs.
"Mr Blackler has a serious offending history, and it is to his credit that he has made such progress as has already been noted, notwithstanding the current setback," Judge Ellis said.
The prisoner had completed drug counselling while at the Otago Corrections Facility and looked set to be transferred back there to undertake further treatment for his violent tendencies.
He will next appear before the Parole Board in March.
Judge Ellis requested a psychologist’s report to consider Blackler’s ongoing risk and whether his further treatment needs would be better met in prison or outside.
His sentence expires in January 2024.
