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The son of murdered Tokoroa teacher Lois Dear has made a courtroom speech the likes of which New Zealanders have rarely heard before, calling her killer pathetic, gutless and dumb.
At the High Court in Hamilton on Friday, Whetu Te Hiko was given life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 18-years. He had pleaded guilty in February to attacking Dear in her classroom at Strathmore Primary School last July while she prepared the next day's lessons for her new entrant students.
Her son, Kevin McNeil, described how Te Hiko had ruined the lives of her family.
McNeil read his victim impact statement in full even though he had been urged to tone it down.
"This tragedy has given us more strength with the minds of most people other victims could ever imagine. So I say to you Te Hiko that with this strength and the will to survive, you will not get to me, my family in the way that you got to our mum, an elderly lady," McNeil said.
"Te Hiko, you are pathetic gutless and dumb. Like you, Te Hiko, we have young children, Cody nine, Ben seven, Telisha five, Zane two and Jared 22. They now have no grandmother.
"I don't wont any apology from you. The least you have to say
the better. We want you to remember why you are here and how you
left our mum. This absolutely disgusts us. We can only hope
it disgusts your family and the rest of the country. I have always
had bitter feelings towards you Te Hiko and as a victim
Ibelieve I have this right," McNeil concluded.
Dear's family praised the sentence and also thanked the judge
Justice Lester Chisholm who ruled that McNeil could read his very
critical victim impact statement directly to his mother's
killer.
Police had earlier told McNeil to tone it down because it broke
rules which do not allow victims to criticise the offender or the
justice system.
Sexual element
The court also heard there was a sexual element to Dear's murder. The judge said he was satisfied that evidence showed while it might not have been the motivation for the attack, there was a sexual dimension to it.
The sentencing was the final emotional chapter in the crime that sickened the country. An intoxicated Te Hiko beat, suffocated and stripped Dear. Friday's sentencing was the first chance for her family to express their grief to her murderer.
Te Hiko said he never meant to kill her and all he wanted was her car. But the court heard how that motive quickly descended into a much more sinister one.
"This was a sustained, vicious and brutal attack," said Justice Chisholm.
The judge said while there was no actual evidence to suggest there was a sexual assault on Dear but he did concede there was a sexual element. Her body was found naked from the chest down, her underwear and clothing found strewn on the ground.
The judge said there was a sexual dimension, though there was nothing to suggest Te Hiko followed it through.
McNeil says he is pleased the judge took the sexual element of the murder into account.
"And I think he did an awesome job and of course the Crown did a brilliant job by highlighting that fact. He wasn't just there to take my mother's car was he? And that was a point we all wanted to put out."
The family are relieved at the tough sentence handed down to Te Hiko of 18 years without a chance of parole.
"Considering the justice system we have here, I think we got a very good sentence. Eighteen 18 years is the best we could expect really," says Harley Dear, Lois Dear's brother.
McNeil says it's a huge relief that it's all over. Te Hiko's family is also relieved.
"I just want to say that we're glad it's all over. This has been as hard for us, as it has for Lois Dear's family and all her friends. Yeah, yeah, we just want to get over this," says Piri te Hiko, the killer's brother.
The Dears say it will take some time before they can get over it, though they have comfort knowing te Hiko will be over 40 before he will even be considered for release.
