19 years for killing Amber-Rose
A doctor who killed Dunedin teen AmberRose Rush has been jailed for at least 19 years.
Venod Skantha was found guilty of murdering the 16-year-old, who suffered multiple stab wounds to the back of her neck, after a jury trial late last year.
The 32-year-old, who was also found guilty of four charges of threatening to kill relating to a star witness and his family, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 19-year non-parole period by Justice Gerald Nation in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday.
Skantha’s counsel, Jonathan Eaton QC, said his client was conscious of the grief suffered by the Rush family, and steadfastly maintained his innocence.
He told the court that Skantha did not want his own family to support him in court, or to write a letter of support.
He indicated an appeal on the basis of a miscarriage of justice was likely.
Amber-Rose’s brother, Jayden Rush, read a victim impact statement from his late mother Lisa-Ann, who died of a suspected suicide in the months after the killing. She had lost her ‘‘best friend’’, and she was the person who brought their family together but her death had pulled them apart. ‘‘I am completely broken ... completely empty.’’
She wished she could be with Amber, and suffered nightmares.
Other family members were not in a position to read their statements, but Justice Nation assured them he read them all. He hoped that writing those statements would help, but acknowledged the grief may never leave them.
The Crown said Skantha, who was at the time on his final warning with his employer, feared Amber-Rose was about to raise accusations that would destroy his faltering career. Those accusations, made on the night of February 2, 2018, included him offering her money for sex.
The post alleged Skantha would turn up to work drunk, supply alcohol to minors and touch them inappropriately.
‘‘Grow up Vinny, You’re 30 for f... sakes,’’ it said.
In another text Amber-Rose threatened to go to the police ‘‘like I should have in the first place’’.
She messaged him about ‘‘supplying minors with alcohol and offering them money for sex’’, and later added she would tell his work and police.
Skantha messaged her at 11.21pm: ‘‘So ur serious?’’ ‘‘Best believe I am,’’ she replied.
The exchange ended at 11.25pm with Amber-Rose telling Skantha: ‘‘I hope you pay for it and I hope you go to sleep at night hating yourself.’’
Skantha was made aware of those posts by the teen star witness, who he got to accompany him to Amber-Rose’s house to carry out his ‘‘masterplan’’. Justice Nation noted the callousness of how Amber Rose was murdered, and how her bloodied body was left for her mother to discover.
Outside court Amber-Rose’s father, Shane Rush, thanked the judge, prosecution and ‘‘everybody’’.
‘‘The life sentence is not what we would have asked for – we would have asked for more, but it is what it is.
‘‘From all of us we’d like to thank the country... myself and my children will just go on and be strong together.’’