Tania Shailer and David Haerewa, the two people responsible for the awful ill treatment and death of Moko Rangitoheriri, were found guilty of manslaughter and will be sentenced in Rotorua this morning.
Manslaughter can involve a wide range of severity and sentences can range from slight through to a life sentence similar to murder.
Also today there will be a number of protests around the country.
Concerns have been raised about the charges being downgraded from murder to manslaughter, to which the two plead guilty, with accusations of what effectively amounted to plea bargaining.
I won’t make a judgement on that without knowing the facts.
Attorney General Chris Finlayson has said the decision to drop a murder charge was signed off by Solicitor-General Una Jagose and has called criticism of the plea deal criticism of the plea deal as “dangerous and ill-informed” but will explain further after the sentencing today.
Stuff reports Moko: Hit, kicked, thrown, bitten, stomped and smothered – but prosecutors can’t prove couple murdered the boy
The downgrading to manslaughter charges has outraged New Zealand and, in one of the most public displays of contempt of court in New Zealand history, thousands will march on the court houses across all across the country tomorrow. Marches have even been organised in Australia.
Attorney General Chris Finlayson has slammed all criticism of the plea deal as “dangerous and ill-informed”. He will explain the decision “in words of one syllable” after tomorrow’s sentencing.
The Solicitor-General provides prosecution guidelines which Crown solicitors must follow, Finlayson says, the decision to drop a murder charge was signed off by Solicitor-General Una Jagose.
There will be a lot of interest in the sentence. Courts of New Zealand says this in the introduction to Sentencing:
Imposing a sentence (the punishment given to an offender) can be one of the most exacting tasks undertaken by a judge. By law sentences must reflect a number of considerations, some of which may be in conflict.[1] Some of the most important considerations are:
- the seriousness of the offending
- the interests of the victim
- consistency with sentences imposed for similar offending
- the personal circumstances of the offender
On manslaughter sentencing:
There are some offences for which the Court of Appeal has considered it inappropriate to prescribe a sentencing range.
One example of this is manslaughter – the maximum penalty for manslaughter is life imprisonment. The worst cases of manslaughter are near to murder and can attract very severe sentences of imprisonment.
But a conviction for manslaughter may also result where someone causes the death of another person by accident, without intending any harm, meaning that sentence of imprisonment may be inappropriate.
Given the wide range of circumstances that can all fall within “manslaughter”, it is not possible to provide a single guideline that addresses all cases.
In sentencing for manslaughter Judges take guidance instead from earlier cases involving manslaughter of a generally similar kind.
Without knowing all the details of the obviously horrific treatment of Moko that resulted in his death, this crime must rate near or at the higher end of the scale of severity.
Your NZ 
Brown
/ 27th June 2016I’m not a fan of the death penalty but sometimes its uncomfortably tempting to change my enlightened ways.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016i believe in the death penalty for some types of especially repeat offender who are always going to be a danger to society for as long as they live. A lengthy jail term seems an appropriate punishment for these two, but without knowing exactly how they became what they are it’s premature for me to speculate on how truly culpable they are for the awful thing they did.
I don’t know if we will get to see the full details on that. Sometimes there’s a journo around who wants to analyse & report on it in an in-depth article, as long as there hasn’t been too much suppressed.
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016Even if they’d been abused themselves, this can’t justify what they did.
They may have been a match made in Hell, like the Moors Murderers who got their kicks from torturing, raping (I think) and killing children. They made tape recordings of their deeds and their victims beggng for mercy. I have heard that the policemen who had to listen to these were never the same again. And they had to find the least ghastly bit to play to parents to ID the voice.
Nelly Smickers
/ 27th June 2016As Wayne said this morning while I was getting his tea and toast, “When will people wake up and realise this country has become nothing more than a free-range asylum” 😡
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/79697706/Men-behind-child-killings-related
Nelly Smickers
/ 27th June 20161.15pm
……each got 17 years
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016It’s tempting to make the obvious answer to Wayne’s remark, but I won’t do so.
Nelly Smickers
/ 27th June 2016[Inappropriate on this thread. PG]
Nelly Smickers
/ 27th June 2016Apologies PG – provocation.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Plea bargaining is being driven by government under-funding now the prosecution services. That was the take of some legal commentators on One News last night. I have a horribly overworked brother who’s a Crown Prosecutor. I believe they’re right.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016Dunno. They look as thick as bricks and certainly have spent their lives in bashings – receiving and giving. Hard to prove intent to kill so unless it would have been a bigger sentence why waste the time and money fighting it which could be better spent elsewhere?
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016All hinges on the judge getting it right though. This one did. But now there’ll be the appeal & they often screw up. Can’t see anything about non-parole period.
There really needs to be a system put in place to ensure violent or dangerous prisoners assessed as likely to re-offend who are released are required for the first seven years to live in streets in which judges or parole board members live. This might help steer more of the right sort of cases into the preventive detention regime.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Nine years non-parole. They didn’t get 17 years, they got 9 years, extendable.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016What are the precedents for similar baby killers convicted of murder?
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016I’d have to check. You’d be quicker.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016Nope, I’ve got to do a GST return.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Ok. Give me a little time later.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016I mean, I’ll check, just not right now.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Here are two from a quick google search. Not a nice job researching these.
* 2001 Manslaughter of Hinewaoriki Karaitiana-Matiaha (Lillybing). Rachealle Patricia Dawn Namana jailed for six years and Rongomai Paewai for two years. Not sure of non-parole period.
* 1991 Manslaughter of Delcelia Witika – Tania Witika and Eddie Smith both 16-year prison terms. Also not sure of non-parole period. This case seems very similar.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016We need murder convictions for comparison.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016Here are two. 15 and 17 years non parole. Seems like it should have been fought.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/life-sentence-for-baby-s-murder-an-appropriate-final-chapter-police-6286301
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/16879/parents-who-killed-infant-sent-to-prison
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Thanks Alan. Chris Finlayson has explained the reasoning for the plea bargain:
https://yournz.org/2016/06/27/mokos-killers-get-17-years/
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Yes, sorry Al. I realised that after I posted those and re-read your comments. I was hoping there’d be something relatively easy to find that grouped a few of these cases together, What I’m particularly interested in is the non-parole periods.
Got distracted by living wage & by kipper recipes. Back on the job. If your GST return’s finished perhaps you can see what you can find as well?
Glad I don’t have to do GST returns. What a pain in the arse they sound like.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016My accountant does the worst which makes them an expensive pain in the arse. I’ll have a look.
lurcher1948
/ 27th June 201617 years each,9 years non-parole and David H is facing years of the bash(GOOD) for killing the baby of a mongel mob member
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Nine years non-parole. So they actually got 9 years, extendable.
Brown
/ 27th June 2016I’m just relieved its not a Maori problem.
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016I didn’t know that he was an MMM baby. The male killer will have a nice time in prison & could well end up wishing that NZ had the death penalty.
The female one will have a nice time inside, too, I suppose. I can’t refer to them as a man and a woman, it’s an insult to men and women.
I could believe that it wasn’t intentional murder, they probably wouldn’t want to break their toy and not have it to play with any more, and they aren’t so stupid that they wouldn’t know what happens to murderers. But how they can delude themselves that they weren’t risking it, with two adults vs one small child is a mystery.
Let’s assume (for argument’s sake) that he was a really horrible child, who’d annoy anyone as some are. They could have walked away-they weren’t his parents-they could have dumped him somewhere. They could have shut the door on him.They could have done what other people do in this situation.
But I’d guess that whether he was a gorgeous wee boy or a ghastly brat or somewhere between, these two would have done the same thing. He could have been a real sweetie and it would have made no no difference.
HE WAS THREE YEARS OLD. THREE ! What was doing through their minds when they tortured a child of three to death ?
lurcher1948
/ 27th June 2016At least if the [deleted] that killed the child survives she will be [deleted – you should know by now that personal attacks are not appropriate nor acceptable. PG]
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016I sincerely hope that Lurch doesn’t think that I believe or hope that they really will have a nice time in prison. It’s called irony, Lurch.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016No, it wasn’t about you: it was about Tania Shailer Kitty.
lurcher1948
/ 27th June 2016Sorry Pete I’m sure MOKOs feeling the Christian spirit OPPS
Alan Wilkinson
/ 27th June 2016Kitty, these two would have spent their whole lives being taught and reinforcing that instant brutal violence is the solution for every problem. Thinking then becomes completely irrelevant and is not involved.
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016I hadn’t realised that Tania Shailer had children of her own. It sounds as if they were in no danger-and the excuse that Moko angered them by taking them for granted is unbelievable !!! He was three-that’s what three year olds do !!! They can’t work out things like that, they have to take everything for granted-that’s all they know. It’s like me saying that my dog takes it for granted that I’ll feed him and look after him.
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016What’s an MMM baby Kitty?
Nelly Smickers
/ 27th June 2016Gezza
/ 27th June 2016Doesn’t answer the question Nellers. Good try though.
Where’s Kitty? Don’t tell me she’s pulled a Polish Exit too? Maybe just having salad & a mineral water for din-dins and back soon?
Kitty Catkin
/ 27th June 2016I haven’t read anything about her/their own children being in danger-I would have thought that Moko’s mother wouldn’t have left her own with them if they were,
This wasn’t just beating (states the obvious)
It was interesting that the manslaughter charge was brought in to make sure that they were convicted, even if it wasn’t quite put in that way. Yes, it could have been impossible to prove that the killing was deliberate, whereas it was obvious that the injuries caused the death.
There can never be justice for Moko, of course. That could only have happened if he had lived.
Brown
/ 27th June 2016Its the SOCKS mentality again. I’m so pleased that women are never violent and abusive – the narrative was briefly conflicted here until my white male guilt reflex reasserted itself. Whew, a close one.
dave1924
/ 27th June 20169 years non parole in a 17 year sentence for killing a child age 3 that on probable life expectancy would have lived to somewhere between 75-80 [maybe higher giving the improvements in healthcare]
A child’s life that could have been anything. A child who could have father many children each with an unknown potential.
All that snuffed out by two adults who should have known a lot better than to kill a child of 3.
A legal outcome, but not justice. If its true the child was a Mobsters kid, then someone is going to end up dead methinks, and that maybe just in the circumstances…
lurcher1948
/ 27th June 2016Kitty C nothing I post here reflects on you unless we are in a heavy discussion.As a uneducated buffon posting on a smart phone why do you worry about my thoughts??? on THURSDAY IM OF TO TAHITI AND BORA BORA and cruising on the ARANUI 5 so no problems
Gezza
/ 27th June 2016You’re smarter than me if you can use a smartphone. Mine’s only semi-literate.
dave1924
/ 27th June 2016ahhhh you replied to the wrong comment Lurcher…. enjoy your south pacific cruise anyway