Child killer Benny Haerewa faces the possibility of never getting out of jail again amid a renewed Crown prosecution bid for preventive detention sentence for his latest crime.
The Crown had sought the indefinite sentence last October when Haerewa answered charges relating to five years of abuse of a new partner and her children, after his release from a 12-year sentence for manslaughter in the killing of Hawke's Bay boy James Whakaruru in 1999.
In the High Court in Auckland, Justice Grant Powell rejected a Crown application for the open-ended sentence of preventive detention, which is reserved mainly for repeat violent offenders at high risk of reoffending.
Haerewa's sentence of a further nine years' jail, with a minimum six years before he could apply for parole, was the subject of argument this week in the Court of Appeal.
The three justices reserved their decision, and a judgment is expected later this year.