The Parole Board has turned down a convicted murderer's request for bail after he was caught with a cellphone charger.
The board found that Teina Pora, who is serving life imprisonment for murder and rape, had been doing well and was slowly moving towards release. But that changed when staff found a cellphone charger in his work overalls in December last year.
It says he cannot safely be released after that discovery.
Pora is appealing, claiming the charger was not his.
The board has also denied parole to Stephen Ralph Stone, who is in jail for two murders and a rape, after a report found he was at high risk of reoffending.
It says there have been reports of Stone using stand-over tactics and being violent in prison, which he denies.
