A former head of the Corrections department believes Malcolm Chaston, who was sentenced to preventive detention on Monday for murder, is years away from beginning rehabilitation in earnest.
Chaston, 40, was sentenced at a High Court sitting in Rangiora for killing Christchurch woman Vanessa Pickering, whose body was found at Godley Head in February last year.
Chaston was jailed for life on the murder charge and must serve at least 20 years.
He was also sentenced on a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual violation on another woman, and one count of unlawful sexual connection.
Justice French sentenced him to preventive detention with a minimum of nine years' jail on each of these charges.
The court was told Chaston had 71 convictions for violence and sexual offending already on his criminal record and had refused to engage in treatment.
But the former head of the prison service, Kim Workman, says the effect of any rehabilitation may wear off if it is applied now.
Mr Workman predicts it will be at least 15 years before Chaston qualifies for the adult sex offender treatment programme.
Even then, Chaston cannot be forced into rehabilitation or punished for avoiding it, he says.
