A teenager who stabbed a West Auckland dairy owner to death has been released from a youth justice facility.
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The boy, who is now 16, was serving a sentence of four years and six months after he was found guilty of manslaughter over the 2014 death of 57-year-old Arun Kumar.
The teenager has been free since January, but the Parole Board only released its decision today after seeking legal advice.
The Parole Board said the boy suffers a number of disabilities, including foetal alcohol syndrome and a brain injury sustained in a car crash when he was eight.
During his trial, in 2015, the court heard details about the boy's upbringing.
The boy's family had an extensive history with Child, Youth and Family, with 20 notifications, including 10 for family violence.
His mother also used heroin and methamphetamine in front of her children.
The boy had stopped going to school and was hooked on synthetic cannabis.
He has been attending school since the beginning of the year and the Parole Board said in a subsequent progress report that he was doing very well.
"He is said to be polite and respectful, and interacting positively with his peers," the report said.
"His English teacher is particularly impressed with him and says that he is writing and communicating in a very mature and developed manner - which is reflected in the submission he made to the Board which released him."
Because of this, the board said it no longer needed to monitor him, but he will be subject to some special conditions until June 2019.
The boy, who was 13 when he committed the crime, was granted permanent name suppression by the High Court.
