A convicted killer has been recalled to prison after he was caught drinking at a wedding by an off-duty corrections officer.
George Charles Trounson was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991 for murdering his 17-year-old flatmate, Russell Warren Neil, after beating him about the head with a piece of broken stair baluster on June 24, 1990.
He has been recalled to prison four times.
As part of parole conditions, he was prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol for life, with substance abuse linked to his reoffending.
On May 28, Trounson was at a wedding, where an off-duty corrections officer, who was working as a barman, observed him "drinking to the point where he was visibly intoxicated", a New Zealand Parole Board decision noted.
Trounson originally denied consuming alcohol at the wedding, but later accepted he had lied to his probation officer about the incident.
That incident triggered his recall application on the grounds he had breached his release conditions and posed "an undue risk to the safety of the community".
In addition, Trounson had stopped taking his Antabuse medication - another special parole condition - and had failed to disclose that to his parole officer.
In his defence, it was argued a recall was not justified as he did not pose an undue risk to the community, and the incident occurred during a time of stress.
Trounson, his lawyer submitted, was employed and housed and had complied with his other conditions of parole for many years and the recent incident should be seen as a lapse, rather than as justification for a recall.
The Parole Board decided a recall was necessary as Trounson had failed to learn from his last recall earlier this year, had stopped taking his medication and attended a wedding where he knew alcohol would be present.
"It reflects a failure to recognise situations that place him at risk."
In its decision, the board said, until Trounson stopped consuming alcohol, he remained an undue risk to the community.
"And, although it was a long time ago, Mr Trounson acknowledged that alcohol had played a significant part in the murder."
Trounson will be seen by the board again in November.
