Murderer shattered ‘perfect, happy lives’
Jaden Stroobant, who viciously beat a pensioner then sexually violated her as she lay dying, has been jailed indefinitely.
Cun Xiu Tian, 69, was beaten to death in her Te Atatu Peninsula home in January 2016.
Stroobant, 21, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland yesterday after pleading guilty to murder and sexual violation.
For the charge of murder, Stroobant was sentenced to life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, and for the charges of sexual violation, a sentence of preventive detention with a minimum period of 10 years.
When he attacked Tian he was 19 and had been released from prison five weeks earlier on special release conditions.
He had a chequered childhood and had been expelled from schools for assaulting teachers, and had spent most of his adult life in jail for petty offences.
Defence lawyer Emma Priest said the murder and sexual violation was a huge, unexpected and uncharacteristic escalation in behaviour. His previous most serious offending was burglary. She told Justice Graham Lang the offending in this case was a ‘‘burglary gone wrong’’.
Crown prosecutor David Johnstone acknowledged Stroobant’s disadvantaged upbringing and adolescence but said there had been multiple attempts to intervene in his life.
‘‘Stroobant’s behaviour displayed from a very young age, around 12, has given rise to attempts to intervene in relation to his behaviour. He’s attended special schools, he’s had 100 hours of psychiatric support, notwithstanding that, his education efforts ceased when he was expelled on a series of occasions for punching teachers. He then embarked on a career of burglary.’’
He asked Stroobant be granted only a small discount for his guilty plea, saying the plea had come only days before trial and only when the evidence against him became heavily stacked.
Stroobant was assessed as having a high risk of further violent and sexual offences and the Crown sought a sentence of preventive detention - an indeterminate sentence reserved for only the most serious offences.
This was opposed by the defence, but Priest conceded a life term was inevitable and a minimum non-parole period of 17 years appropriate.
Tian’s family told the court their perfect lives had been marred by the death of their mother and mother-in-law.
In a victim impact statement, son-inlaw Jianzhong Wang, also known as Jerry, said the murder had caused him a lifetime of fear, insomnia and panic attacks. He described the family’s lives as happy and perfect before Tian’s death.
‘‘My whole world has been significantly altered … and shaken to its core. The hurt may never be healed.’’
He said the family had been forced to move, that he couldn’t concentrate at work, and having previously disliked animals they had bought a german shepherd to protect themselves.
‘‘I suddenly feel security is the top priority in my life. I certainly care about my wife’s personal safety, I try to be with her at all possible times.’’
Tian’s daughter, Yun Wei, who discovered her mother’s body, said the loss of her mum was ‘‘beyond words’’.
‘‘It was obvious to me that Mum suffered a violent death. I cannot imagine the pain Mum suffered,’’ she said.