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Abdulrahman Ikhtiari - Source: ONE News -
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A teenager who murdered a Christchurch taxi driver, who came to New Zealand for a better life, has been jailed for nearly as long as his life so far.
Shannon David Boyes-Warren, 17, was sentenced in the High Court in Christchurch on Wednesday to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 and a half years for the slaying of Abdulrahman Ikhtiari.
His co-offender, 21-year-old Randall Legion Wiremu Brown, was jailed for five and a half years with a non-parole period of three years eight months, after admitting a manslaughter charge.
Both youths pleaded guilty last month. They also admitted assaulting the taxi driver with intent to rob him. Their pleas came a few days before their trial was due to begin.
Ikhtiari, an Afghan refugee, was described in court as "a man of courage and honour".
Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told the court that Boyes-Warren stabbed Ikhtiari to death with a 13cm bladed knife he carried around with him.
He says Boyes-Warren and Brown were two young, strong offenders against an older man on his own, seated in a taxi.
The defensive wounds on Ikhtiari's right arm and left leg showed that it was an ongoing and determined assault.
His glasses were dislodged and broken in the attack. A stab to his chest was the fatal wound.
The court was told the men displayed a lack of remorse when telling their associates about "shanking" a taxi driver after they returned to the city to continue drinking.
Boyes-Warren was 16 at the time and had a list of previous convictions.
Defence counsel for Brown, Pip Hall, says Brown was a secondary party to both of the crimes.
Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger says Boyes-Warren bore the burden of responsibility. He had written a letter to the family and his remorse and the feelings expressed were genuine.
He says he couldn't remember all of that night as he was too drunk.
Justice Christine French says there were 12 separate injuries on 39-year-old Ikhtiari, indicating the seriousness of the assault.
She says the victim impact report from his widow made very sad reading.
He was a man of courage and honour, a much loved husband and father of five, the judge says.
He was a refugee from Afghanistan and after four years apart was reunited with his family in New Zealand, she says.
"The man killed in this cowardly and senseless attack was a man who had sought refuge in New Zealand in the hope that he and his family could live a safer life... in just a few short years the joy of being reunited has turned to unimaginable sorrow and pain."
The judge says she was impressed with the letter to the family written by Boyes-Warren, and that it showed there was hope for him.
But there is a widespread concern in the community about the frequency of attacks on taxi drivers, and about the number of young people in the city carrying knives.
New Zealand's young killers
Boyes-Warren is New Zealand's 31st convicted teenage murderer since 1991.
But he is three years older than the country's youngest, a
13-year-old who killed nurse Rachel Bennett in 1991.
His name has never been released.
In 2002, 14-year-old Renee Kara O'Brien bashed truck driver Kenneth Pigott to death with a hammer.
Three years later, her 16-year-old brother Ray Kara killed accountant Trevor Clague with a baseball bat.
At least 45 have been convicted of manslaughter, among them, Bailey Junior Kurariki, the country's youngest killer.
Ten teenagers are now before the courts charged with murder.
