Life sentence after pizza row killing

A HOMELESS Auckland man with a ‘‘vicious streak’’ has been jailed for life after stabbing his friend to death in what prosecutors called a callous attack over pizza.

The violent criminal history of Grenville Fahey was revealed in the High Court at Auckland yesterday when he appeared for sentencing after unsuccessfully defending himself at a jury trial last year.

Fahey was found guilty of stabbing to death Steven Harris in Auckland’s Myers Park in September 2013 in an attack that prosecutors earlier described as excessively violent.

Witnesses to the attack said it was over within minutes, and closed-circuit television footage showed an unarmed Harris retreating from the attack and using his friend’s nickname as he said: ‘‘I love you Kookie.’’

At the trial, the court heard that the killing was apparently the result of an argument over free pizzas.

Central-city CCTV footage showed the pair got a couple of free pizzas from Domino’s Pizza on the night of the murder but appeared to have a disagreement soon after, the court was told.

Despite defending himself during his trial, Fahey offered no explanation for why the attack took place, and although Justice Graham Lang gave him an opportunity to speak yesterday, Fahey declined, saying he had ‘‘nothing further to add’’.

Lang said that because of Fahey’s silence there was no way of knowing what the motive for the ‘‘senseless and tragic’’ murder was, but security footage showed the pair appeared to be getting along ‘‘amicably’’ in the minutes before the murder.

He pointed to Fahey’s criminal history, consisting of 102 convictions that had seen him in and out of prison since he was 17.

He said Fahey had assaulted and threatened his 72-year-old mother, racially abused an Asian couple and thrown rocks at them, and possessed makeshift knives that he used to threaten various strangers, including a service station cashier.

The history revealed several things about Fahey that the judge said needed to be taken into consideration in sentencing.

‘‘First, you’re quick to react,’’ he said. ‘‘Secondly, you react under the slightest provocation. Thirdly, you react in a violent way, and fourthly, you resort to weapons, including knives.’’

Crown prosecutor David Johnstone asked Lang for a term of imprisonment of no less than 10 years.

‘‘History itself demonstrates the purpose of protecting the community from him,’’ Johnstone said.

Harris’s sister, Michelle Harris, told the court through a victimimpact statement that her only sibling’s death had caused ‘‘terrible suffering’’ for their parents.

Lang sentenced Fahey to life imprisonment, with a minimum nonparole period of 12 years.