Killer continues life of violence
Benny Haerewa carried out one of the country’s most notorious child killings, served 12 years in prison and then went on to subject a woman and her children to years of violence.
Yesterday at the High Court in Auckland, Haerewa was sentenced to nine years in prison after earlier admitting 11 charges including threatening to kill, serious assaults and sexual violation.
Haerewa served a full 12-year sentence for manslaughter over the death of his stepson, James Whakaruru, who he subjected to repeated violence culminating in the fatal attack when he stomped, punched and kicked the 4-year-old.
Authorities had grave concerns about releasing Haerewa from prison in 2010 but he had served all his sentence.
In its last report before his release, the Parole Board expressed grave fears about his risk to the community, describing him as ‘‘violent’’ and ‘‘high-risk’’.
Within a month Haerewa had breached one of his release conditions.
The latest offending began four years after his release. Haerewa moved in with a woman and her children, and subjected them to repeated beatings and threats.
According to court documents, Haerewa frequently punched his partner in the head and face.
Haerewa would also carve into the walls and doors the words ‘‘child killer’’.
Justice Grant Powell said Haerewa would put holes in walls with a tomahawk. The damage was intended to show his power over the rest of the family.
He also hit the children. On one occasion, at a children’s birthday party, Haerewa threw a can of soft drink at a child, hitting him in the head.
Haerewa was also an intensely jealous man. He punched his partner in the face as they were driving to one of her children’s basketball games, because she had been talking to her child’s basketball coach about the game.
Sometime between September and October, 2017, he began talking about his mother needing an operation to have her leg amputated.
He told the woman she would lose a leg as well and beat her so badly on the feet and legs that the woman couldn’t walk for two days. Three months later, Haerewa’s temper again erupted after the woman wore clothing he believed was too revealing.
He made her sit out the front of their house and brought out a pot of water and some old bread. Putting the food and drink on the ground, he told her ‘‘she had to be treated like a dog’’. Haerewa then wrapped a cord around her neck and told her she was ‘‘going to die today’’.
Justice Powell described the offending as ‘‘degrading and cruel’’.
In court yesterday, the Crown said Haerewa’s conviction for manslaughter showed he had a pattern of behaviour that meant he was an ongoing risk to the community and asked Justice Powell to sentence Haerewa to preventive detention. Such a sentence would have only allowed Haerewa to be released from prison once he was able to prove to the Parole Board that he was no longer a threat to the community.
But Justice Powell said the law required him to assess the likelihood that Haerewa would commit a serious violent offence after serving his latest prison sentence. The judge said he was not able to do that and there was no clear pattern of an escalation in the offending.