Hoping to live with Mormons

Timaru Herald

Daniel Senelale

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CONVICTED killer Daniel Kerisiano Senelale is seeking to live with members of the non-drinking Mormon faith when he is released from prison.

The Timaru youth appeared last month before the New Zealand Parole Board, which adjourned the matter until December for more information to be provided about the proposal.

Senelale was 18 when, in June 2006, he was convicted of manslaughter - the charge resulting from a scuffle in a Timaru street that saw him hit Mark Smith, who then fell to the ground, fatally hitting his head on concrete.

He was released on home detention in 2007, and subsequently released on parole in October 2007, but was recalled to prison after being arrested for being unlawfully in a yard. He was intoxicated at the time.

The board noted that Senelale was in employment in prison. He was not prepared to return to the main prison to undertake a medium intensity rehabilitation programme.

The decision says that Senelale was aided at the hearing by a support person and a person "who has some prominence in the South Canterbury community".

"It is proposed and has been advanced to the board today that Mr Senelale would live at an address which has been arranged by the (withheld), and which is occupied by essentially non-drinking residents who are members of the Mormon faith.

"Mr Senelale has indicated that he wishes to take Antabuse and is prepared to take further drug and alcohol counselling ... "

The board said it wanted to check out the proposal by way of a residential restrictions report.

"The residential restrictions may well offer a further incentive for him to abstain completely from the use of alcohol, to undertake treatment, and to ensure that he does not get back into an offending lifestyle which led to his recall on an earlier occasion."

The board has said it has given no guarantees to Senelale, as he had previously offended after being released on parole, and was not prepared to undertake the programme that has been offered to him in the prison.

- © Fairfax NZ News