Killer sends parting shot as jail sentence hits home
Bodi McKee swore at his victim’s family yesterday after he was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for killing Leslie Putt in Auckland last year.
McKee, 24, will spend a minimum of three years behind bars for shooting Putt at a house in Manurewa, the sentence prompting a cry of approval from the public gallery at the High Court in Auckland.
Earlier in the sentencing hearing, McKee hung his head and wept as Putt’s father told him he hoped his son’s ghost would haunt him forever.
‘‘I know I am not allowed to wish harm on the offender, but I so wish I could,’’ a victim adviser read on behalf of Putt’s father, Antony Marsh.
‘‘My son was portrayed as the aggressor at trial but he was not the one with the gun.
‘‘Bodi, you stole my son’s life, you have his blood on your hands. I hope in your dreams you are faced with his ghost,’’ the statement read.
Putt died in his mother’s arms from the gunshot wound in the early hours of September 24, 2016, at a friend’s property.
‘‘My son was looking at me, he said: I have been shot Mum, I love you.
‘‘He was in my lap like he had been 33 years ago … My baby, my son was dying in my arms,’’ a statement from Putt’s mother read.
McKee was found guilty of Putt’s manslaughter in August.
During the trial, Crown prosecutor Yelana Yelavich told the jury McKee went to the property, which played host to drug-dealing activity, with a loaded gun.
He was let into the house by the residents but argued with Putt, who was sleeping in a car in the driveway.
The two men, who already shared bad blood, engaged in a heated fracas, with Putt saying he would fight McKee.
Putt challenged McKee to put down the gun, Yelavich said, but McKee fired the weapon.
McKee fled the scene in a car. A witness called 111 and ran to Putt’s mother’s house across the road.
Putt was unconscious with a gun shot wound to his abdomen when emergency services arrived.
Ambulance services worked to revive Putt but he was declared dead on Sunday morning.
McKee was later arrested but the weapon, a .22 pistol, was never found.
Justice Matthew Muir read a letter to the court from McKee where he outlined his remorse.
‘‘I now have a changed view on life, and how short it is,’’ his letter read.
‘‘I just want to serve what time you deem fair, and get out and be a good father to my 3-year-old son.’’
Justice Muir said McKee was at a crossroads in his life, and had to make something from his time in prison.
‘‘He either makes something of it ... or he does not,’’ he said.