By Jerram Watts
Convicted double-murderer Graeme Burton has been sentenced to preventive detention – again.
Burton sat with four security guards in the dock while his sentence was read out in the Auckland High Court.
He was found guilty last year of another murder attempt on an inmate at Auckland’s maximum security prison in Paremoremo in December 2008.
Burton stabbed headhunter gang member Dwayne Marsh 27 times with a weapon in the prison’s high security wing – one of the stab wounds punctured Marsh’s heart.
The judge said only emergency surgery saved Marsh’s life – otherwise Burton would be facing his third murder charge.
Burton was already serving a life sentence, with a non-parole period of 26 years, for shooting Karl Kuchenbecker on January 6, 2007.
He will be eligible for parole in 2033.
Judge Tony Randerson said Burton was a narcissistic sociopath with a highly manipulative personality.
Judge Randerson said the maximum sentence for attempted murder was 14 years and had to be served concurrently with Burton’s existing sentences.
However, it was a pointless sentence as there would be no additional punishment for his attack on Marsh.
But the sentencing of preventive detention means when Burton is up for parole – the serious risk he is would be considered.
Crown prosecutor Deb Bell said Burton showed extreme premeditated violence and posed an ongoing risk to his fellow inmates – and the public, if he ever got out of jail.
Judge Randerson said the court still did not know why Burton attacked Marsh – Marsh had refused to talk.
Burton was on parole at the time he killed Mr Kuchenbecker, after serving 14 years of a life sentence for the murder of Paul Anderson in Wellington in 1992.
Burton has 113 previous convictions.
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