No parole 30 years after killing

Hawke’s Bay murderer Sam Te Hei entered jail in 1987, the same year the All Blacks won the first Rugby World Cup. He will remain in jail for at least 12 more months.

In his 30 years inside Te Hei has added convictions including attempted murder and assault with a weapon.

Noting Te Hei, who is now in his 50s, has ‘‘high reintegrative needs’’ and is a ‘‘high risk offender with gang affiliations’’, the Parole Board has made sure he will stay in prison for at least 12 more months.

Te Hei is serving a life sentence for the murder of 16-year-old Colleen Burrows in 1987.

She was kidnapped, kicked in an hour-long attack, and run over with a car after she refused to have sex with him and a fellow Mongrel Mob member. Her body was found on the banks of the Tutaekuri River in June 1987, so badly mutilated that police were unable initially to identify her.

Te Hei would have been eligible for parole after 10 years of his life sentence, but was jailed for 12 years in 1997 for the attempted murder of an inmate who refused to stab a prison guard as part of a Mongrel Mob initiation.

In its just-released decision to deny Te Hei parole again, the board said that since entering prison he had gathered convictions for assault, cannabis possession, and assault with a weapon, on top of the attempted murder.

In recent years he had been out of prison for some work, including on an orchard, and had received positive reports from employers.

Psychologists had noted some positive signs for his eventual reintegration, but said he was ‘‘likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy’’.

His release would have been an undue risk to the safety of the community, the board said, adding he could apply for parole again in February, 2018.