Child sex offender, convicted murderer and prison escapee Phillip John Smith has been back in court as he fights to be interviewed by a journalist.
Phillip John Smith. Photo: RNZ / Murielle Baker
Last year, the High Court ruled Corrections should review its decision to reject a Stuff journalist from interviewing Smith.
Corrections appealed to the Court of Appeal today.
Corrections lawyer Austin Powell said appropriate steps were taken when the rejection decision was made.
"In my submission, the impact of the proposed interview on the victims of the offence clearly is a relevant consideration," he said.
He said requests to interview inmates were becoming more common for prisons to manage.
"In some instances of course this can be dismissed as prurient curiosity - or perhaps morbid fascination - of what occurs behind the prison walls, but clearly in other cases there may be an important issue that needs to be explored," he said.
Smith represented himself via video link from prison.
He told the three judges hearing the case that the High Court decision appropriately balanced his freedom to speak versus the rights of the victims.
The Court of Appeal reserved its decision.
Smith is serving a life sentence for murdering the father of a boy he was sexually abusing.
He escaped to Brazil in 2014 while on day release, and was recaptured six days later.
In 2015, Arthur Taylor won an appeal to do an interview with TVNZ.
