A High Court judge has slammed the upbringing and lack of parental guidance given to two Opotiki teenagers who murdered 79-year-old retired teacher John Rowe by beating him to death in his bed with his own sticks.
Justice Geoffrey Venning was sentencing Courtney Pauline Churchward and Lori-Lea Waiora Te Wini in the High Court at Rotorua.
They both received a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Churchward had been 16 at the time of Mr Rowe's death, Te Wini 14. The pair are first cousins.
Justice Venning dismissed submissions from Te Wini's counsel, Gene Tomlinson, that because of her age she should serve a lesser non-parole period than Churchward.
Mr Tomlinson argued that as she had been only 14 at the time of murder it would be manifestly unjust for her non-parole period to be 17 years.
Churchward's counsel, Paul Mabey QC, said he did not oppose that time frame, requested by crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones.
Mr Tomlinson said Te Wini had been grossly let down by those in charge of her care and by the education system.
He submitted she lacked the experience of her co-accused, noting Te Wini said in her pre-sentence report that Churchward had become angry when she had hesitated hitting Mr Rowe. It was because of this she had "whacked" him.
"She was not the principal offender ... she had a lesser role," Mr Tomlinson said. He also argued she had not used a specific lethal weapon such as a knife.
Mr Mabey said Churchward had been a girl full of promise and was "going places" before her role in the murder of a man in his twilight years.
She had been let down by those who brought her up and by the time of her release would have spent half her life in prison.
Justice Venning said the jury had accepted both girls had beaten Mr Rowe to death. "It is to be hoped he lapsed into unconsciousness at a relatively early stage of the attack."
It was the court's duty to Mr Rowe's family as victims and the community to denounce such determined and wanton violence, he said.
The girls had brought to an end what, for Mr Rowe, should have been a long and full retirement. He had brought his family to New Zealand (from the UK) for a better life and made a valuable contribution to his community.
The pair's actions had been a terrible burden for his family who had acted with dignity and restraint.
Judge Venning noted that, at 13, Te Wini had been expelled from college because of disruptive behaviour, spending the time since then either sleeping or smoking cannabis. By the time she was 14 she had had two relationships with men with gang affiliations and suffered from a stress disorder. Churchward was intelligent and in other circumstances could have led a completely different life.
She had been abused by an older relative and lived in an abusive relationship with a man recently released from prison, he said.
Neither girl was a victim of society. "You are victims of the failure of your own families to provide any sort of direction, support or encouragement to learn any sort of values ... They failed you in the most basic of ways."
As Mr Rowe's neighbour Te Wini had been aware of his age and frailty, he said.
The pair had committed a home invasion, with the beating they meted out being both brutal and sustained.
Using his walking staff and a wooden rod he used to pull his curtains to beat him death in his own bed had been as bad as a stabbing or kicking someone in the head.
"You knew he was vulnerable and were both prepared to use violence."
Each had "hyped" the other up.
He said he made it clear that life imprisonment was just that -- life. Any minimum non-parole period was part of that sentence.
NZPA