Justice Minister Simon Power says he is seriously considering denying bail to prisoners facing murder charges.
Mr Power says the man found guilty of murdering Auckland Grammar student Augustine Borrell in 2007 would find it much harder to get bail under laws that were changed in December.
On Monday, a jury found Haiden Davis guilty of stabbing the 17-year-old through the heart with a kitchen knife outside a party in Herne Bay. He was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Police say Davis, 20, was on bail for aggravated robbery at the time and was again given bail in the lead-up to the trial for murder.
Mr Power says that as part of a pre-election review promise, he will take a proposal to Cabinet in five months with changes to bail laws.
The proposal will include the electronic bail regime, which could take away a prisoner's right to remove his or her electronic bracelet for short periods.
Mr Power says it should also look at denying bail to those on murder charges and those with a second serious offence.
"I think it's worth considering as part of the on-going review of bail. There are very few people around who would have thought that bail in this case (Davis) was appropriate. We've got to make sure that the law that is drafted in Parliament reflects the public's concerns about public safety."
However, Law Society criminal law convener Jonathan Krebbs says the Bail Act is already very strict and wholesale changes of the system are not needed.
Mr Krebbs says he understands that the Borrell family is upset but to use the Davis example to advocate for wholesale changes would be wrong. He says judges make thousands of decisions each day about whether to grant bail and the system on the whole is working.
Police deputy commissioner Rob Pope says the officer who initially granted Davis bail made the right decision with the information he had at the time.
Mr Pope says the charges related to the theft of a mobile phone and a wallet. Four days later, the court endorsed the bail decision. He says it is deeply regrettable that Davis offended while on bail.
Police Minister Judith Collins says she will receive a briefing on the management of Davis' two hours of free time, which he was allowed on bail, including allegations that he met a friend who was a key witness at the murder trial.
Father wants answers
Charlie Borrell is demanding answers from the justice system after learning his son was killed by a man on bail over other crimes.
The jury had struggled to agree on Monday, but eventually delivered a guilty verdict. During the court case, Mr Borrell said he found it frustrating knowing what the jury did not know about his son's murderer.
"At the same time while being on bail he was breaching his bail when he committed the ultimate crime of killing my son."
He says one of the breaches included associating with witnesses to the murder, when Davis was meant to have no contact with them.
Mr Borrell is asking how breaking bail rules are allowed to happen and says the justice system has a lot to answer for. He said his son could still be alive if his killer had been under proper supervision.
Mr Borrell said legal aid lawyers advised Davis to fight his case to the end, even though he had no defence. However Davis' lawyer, Ron Mansfield, says he is not to blame for any delay in the case which he says was caused by a backlog of cases.
Labour Party leader Phil Goff says the Borrell family has been let down by the justice system.
Bail conditions
Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Breach told Morning Report that when Haiden Davis was charged with murder he was initially remanded in custody and then bailed in May 2008.
Initially he was under a 24-hour curfew, but later this was amended to allow him to leave home for two hours a day if he was accompanied by an approved family member and did not come within 1km of the address of the victim's family.
Mr Breach says Davis' electronic monitoring would have been turned off for the two hours he was allowed to leave home.
He said that if Davis talked to a witness he was prohibited from speaking to - as has been reported by Television New Zealand - it would have been a breach of his conditions.
