Cousin-killer declined parole but ‘improving’
A man who killed his second cousin with a kitchen knife, after one started dating the other’s exgirlfriend, will stay behind bars.
But the Parole Board says he has made significant progress toward regaining his freedom.
Hendrix Vai Ariki is serving five years and one month for the manslaughter of his second cousin John Tui Anderson, who he killed in Palmerston North in April 2014.
Ariki and his then-partner, who was Anderson’s ex-partner, were at home when Anderson came up the driveway. Ariki had been told Anderson was threatening him, so he armed himself and hid behind a door.
He stabbed Anderson as he came through the door, severing blood vessels around his bowel.
Anderson left the house, collapsed in the driveway, and died in hospital a day later.
Ariki was declined parole in July.
The Parole Board wanted him to do more work in prison, according to a report released to Stuff.
There had been incidents in prison involving abusive language and threatening behaviour while on the phone, but Ariki had shown a ‘‘marked improvement’’ in recent times, the board said.
He had completed a drug treatment programme and the therapeutic Mauri Tu Pae programme, and had approved accommodation and supportive people outside prison.
The board met with victims of Ariki’s – their names were withheld from the board’s report – who opposed his parole and expressed concern about a relationship he had.
Ariki accepted he could not travel to Palmerston North or Turangi – no reason was given in the report for the second location – and that intimate relationships would be a risk for him in the future.
The board said Ariki had completed all necessary rehabilitation programmes, but needed to do reintegration work before going back into the community.
That work could include living in self-care units and having guided releases in the area where he would be paroled.
‘‘There is considerable work which needs to be done to enable him to be released into the community.’’
Ariki will next appear before the board in February. His sentence ends on November 25, 2020.