Few killers qualify for
A suggested change in approach to sentencing young convicted murderers would not result in many receiving less than the presumed life imprisonment, a Crown lawyer says.
The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on the cases of three young murderers who appealed against their life sentences. The non-parole period for each had been set at 10 years.
The youngest was Georgia Rose Dickey, who was 16 when she instigated events leading to the fatal stabbing in Invercargill of Jack McAllister, 19. She had also assaulted McAllister and pleaded guilty to the murder charge.
Christopher James Brown was 19 when he also played a role the night McAllister was killed near ILT Stadium Southland in June 2017. He was found guilty of murder.
The third was Katrina Roma Epiha, who was 18 when she stabbed Alicia Nathan, 32, at a house party in Christchurch, also in 2017.
Their appeals heard in Wellington on Tuesday and yesterday were the basis for a broader debate about whether it was clearly unjust to sentence young people to life sentences.
The children’s commissioner wrote to the court saying life imprisonment for young people breached the Bill of Rights guarantee against disproportionately severe treatment or punishment.
The court accepted young people did not have the same moral responsibility for their actions as adults, because their brains were still developing.
The law presumes a life imprisonment sentence will be imposed for murder, but it can be avoided if a judge believes it will be ‘‘manifestly unjust’’. But the exception has been little used, the court was told. In her submissions,