Pair jailed for teen’s torture, murder

Two people who kidnapped, tortured and murdered Dimetrius Pairama have been jailed for life. The 17-year-old went to an abandoned Housing New Zealand home in Ma¯ngere, South Auckland, with four others on the promise of food and a place to sleep. Instead, she was tortured for hours, stripped naked and beaten, before being killed. Yesterday, Toko (Ashley) Shane Winter and Kerry Te Amo were sentenced to life in jail with respective minimum non-parole periods of 19 years and four months, and 19 years. Two other teenagers were also in the house but cannot be named. One was charged with murder but was subsequently found unfit to stand trial; the other became the Crown’s star witness at trial. Dimetrius’ wha¯nau were at the High Court at Auckland for the sentencing yesterday. Her grandmother, Lauren Wilkinson-Pou, told the court there was no reason for the murder. ‘‘I believe it was simply a cold, calculated, evil act by two people.’’