Nathan Reihana Aicken, 54, was jailed for life by the High Court at Timaru in 1990 after being convicted of murder.
He was originally released in 2001 and has been repeatedly given chances to prove himself in the community.
Most recently, in August, Aicken was living in Dunedin when he committed assault in a family relationship.
"No injuries occurred but it was inherently a very serious thing for him," Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young said in a recently released decision.
The attack resulted in Aicken being recalled to prison in September.
It was not the first time he had offended since the murder.
In 2008 he was convicted of using threatening language, in 2009 it was wilful damage and assaulting a woman, then he pleaded guilty to intimidation in 2017.
Aicken had been walking through a supermarket when he passed his son’s grandmother in an aisle.
The woman had custody of the man’s son at the time and the court at sentencing heard how he followed her through the store making "intimidating and abusive comments".
Staff eventually intervened to ask if she was all right.
Sir Ron said the most recent assault was the result of "a long build-up of frustration and inability by Mr Aicken to really understand the issues he was facing and a lack of strategies to deal with that".
"We stressed to Mr Aicken that no matter what, the use of physical violence was never acceptable."
Other than that incident, Sir Ron said the killer had done well on parole.
He had been living in a rental, fostering positive relationships with his neighbours and landlady.
He granted parole, but said it was imperative Aicken began treatment as soon as possible in two areas.
"The first is to help him more generally in relationships. That has been his downfall in the past.
"Secondly, and just as importantly, if not more importantly, is helping him develop the skills to have a positive relationship with [redacted]," Sir Ron said.
Among Aicken’s parole conditions were:
- To attend psychological counselling as directed.
- To live at a Dunedin address approved by Probation.
- Not to contact victims.
- To disclose to Probation changes in relationship status.
