KEY POINTS:
Convicted killer Dean Wickliffe will likely be released from jail to look after his dying partner.
The life parolee, who served 15 years for the manslaughter of a Wellington jeweller before his release in 1987, had been recalled to jail in March after being charged with drug, firearms and driving offences.
The parole board said Wickliffe would be released, but kept under electronic monitoring, provided he was granted bail over those charges, the Sunday Star Times reported.
Wickliffe's long-time partner, sickness beneficiary Dionne Chapman, was terminally ill with breast cancer and he had been her primary caregiver.
"That degree of supervision and care is likely to become more intensive as her illness deepens and she asks us in very moving terms for him to be released to her under whatever conditions we think fit so that she can obtain his support over this last and painful period," the board said.
The board noted allegations against Wickliffe related to his partner's pain relief drugs and that Ms Chapman had past convictions for cannabis but said the risk could be mitigated through monitoring.
- NZPA
