Man jailed for providing rifle used to kill woman
A RUNANGA man who supplied the rifle used to shoot a Greymouth mother was jailed yesterday for three years and four months for his role in the October 2017 murder.
Anthony Robert Moore (48) was sentenced in the High Court at Greymouth, for unlawful possession of a firearm and perverting the course of justice by concealing evidence.
Moore sat impassively in the dock during the hearing. As a victim impact statement was being read to the court he put his head in his hands.
In June, George Sean Warren (45) was sentenced to life imprisonment after he admitted murdering mother of three, Hayley Williams, at her Marsden Rd home. Her children were present at the time of the killing.
Warren will serve at least 17 years in jail before he is considered for parole.
The victim impact statement from Ms Williams’s mother Christine Mehrtens was read in court yesterday by a victim support worker.
Mrs Mehrtens said that she did not know Moore but she believed he was a friend of her daughter’s.
Addressing Moore, she said: ‘‘You have left her three sons without a mother. You were her friend and you gave the firearm to a dangerous, uncontrollable madman. Did you think about what he might do with it? Your actions contributed to her death, which was a tragedy for me and her three young sons. They are never going to see their mother again.
‘‘Nothing you can say will help with my grief and loss. I have been in a black hole since this happened.
‘‘You provided this gun that was used to cruelly take Hayley’s life.’’
Justice David Grendall said Warren had asked Moore for a gun, claiming he needed protection from gang members, who had been threatening him.
In 1998 Moore had been declared unfit to hold a firearms licence.
‘‘Yet you had two — the one you gave Warren, and another one,’’ Justice Grendall said.
Some hours after Moore gave Warren the loaded gun, Warren drove to Ms Williams’ house and shot her.
Moore had also attempted to conceal evidence when he texted witnesses and hid his cellphone from the police.
Lawyer Richard Bodle said there was nothing Moore could say to take away the pain and suffering from Ms Williams’ family and friends.
Ms Williams was a friend of Moore and if he had known what Warren was going to do with the rifle he would not have given it to him, he said. — The Greymouth Star