Home detention for killing

Northlander, 22, threw fatal punch during road rage

Ayoung Northlander who punched and killed a grandfather during a road rage incident has narrowly avoided prison, while other “one punch” offenders have spent time behind bars.

Patrick Dennis Tarawa, 22, was sentenced to home detention yesterday for the manslaughter of 58-yearold Christopher Vujcich.

Vujcich’s van had cut across an intersection in Kaikohe, causing Tarawa to brake suddenly to avoid a collision.

Tarawa followed Vujcich before an argument between the pair led to Tarawa throwing a punch which connected with Vujcich’s head, causing him to fall backwards and land on a concrete footpath.

He died the following day.

Yesterday in the High Court at Whanga¯rei, Justice Kit Toogood sentenced Tarawa to 10 months’ home detention and 400 hours’ community work after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The judge said there were other “more realistic sentencing options” available to reduce any likelihood Tarawa would reoffend in a similar way.

“And I don’t see in your character, that I know of it and in your past, any prospect that you’d behave violently in this way or in any other way in future,” Justice Toogood said.

“Time on [electronic monitored] bail, remorse, capacity for rehab and your youth are factors that persuade me a non-custodial sentence can be imposed.

“I accept you’ll live with unbearable regret for the rest of your life.” The Court of Appeal has ruled in previous judgments that the appropriate starting point in a “single punch” case is about three to four years’ imprisonment. However, the starting point may be increased where culpability is higher depending on the offender’s intention and the nature of the violence used. There is also no single tariff or guideline case for manslaughter, which reflects the many different circumstances which may lead to a manslaughter charge.

Caselaw researched by the Herald shows similar one punch cases have dabbled with home detention but eventually resulted in prison terms.

In 2016, teenager Tyrone Palmer was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of 40-year-old Matthew Coley.

Palmer, then 16, “blindsided” and punched Coley in the head. He then fell back onto a store window and to the pavement of an Invercargill street. Palmer ran from the scene and told someone he had just “king hit” someone. The judge gave Palmer deductions in his sentence for youth, previous good character, remorse and his guilty plea.

Palmer’s lawyer, Hugo Young, advocated for a non-custodial sentence but Justice Nicholas Davidson did “not consider home detention is appropriate”.

In 2014, former Navy sailor Grenville David McFarland was jailed for two years and four months after punching trainee teacher Tarun Asthana, 25, outside a McDonald’s in central Auckland in November 2013.

Asthana suffered a fatal head injury when his head hit the pavement.

Justice Pamela Andrews took into account McFarland’s lack of relevant convictions and the support of family, but she reached an end sentence of two years, four months’ imprisonment — above the two-year threshold for home detention.