Levi Hohepa Reuben (27) was jailed for seven years, eight months in 2016 after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 44-year-old Benton Marni Parata.
That sentence was later reduced to six and a-half years on appeal and Reuben was paroled in December.
The Dunedin District Court heard this week that the man’s taste of freedom was relatively brief.
Reuben was released from the Otago Corrections Facility on parole on December 7 last year to attend a residential treatment programme.
His conditions included abiding by a 9.30pm-6.45am curfew, which was electronically monitored through an ankle bracelet.
However, on February 21 he removed the device and told staff at the residence that he no longer wanted to participate in the programme.
The court heard Reuben had been recalled to prison, on an interim basis, to continue serving his sentence.
A final recall hearing would take place next week and Judge Peter Rollo said it appeared the inevitable result would be that the defendant remained behind bars.
Reuben pleaded guilty to the breach and counsel Andy Belcher said at the time, his client had simply reached the point where he viewed being in prison as less restrictive than being out.
Reuben, he said, had spent much of his adult life behind bars.
Judge Rollo imposed four months’ imprisonment and noted the defendant’s sentence end date was in June next year.
Steven Betham (43) was also convicted of manslaughter alongside Reuben in the prison killing and sentenced to six years behind bars.
He took a similar path when he was paroled last year, lasting only three weeks before his first breach.
First Betham allowed his GPS tracker battery to run out — for which he received a suspended sentence — then he was later found with two Mongrel Mob members in full regalia.
A breath test showed he had been drinking, too — both breaches of his conditions on which he was jailed for seven months.
Akuhatua Tihi, the third man involved in the 2015 prison killing, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 13 years.
