User:Evil Monkey/murder

In New Zealand, murder is regarded as one of the most serious crimes.

Legislation
Murder and manslaughter fall under Part 8 of the Crimes Act 1961.

Under the Section 167 culpable murder in New Zealand is defined as:
 * If the offender means to cause the death of the person killed:
 * If the offender means to cause to the person killed any bodily injury that is known to the offender to be likely to cause death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not:
 * If the offender means to cause death, or, being so reckless as aforesaid, means to cause such bodily injury as aforesaid to one person, and by accident or mistake kills another person, though he does not mean to hurt the person killed:
 * If the offender for any unlawful object does an act that he knows to be likely to cause death, and thereby kills any person, though he may have desired that his object should be effected without hurting any one

It is further defined under Section 168 that murder also occurs if during the commission of during certain offenses, the offender means to cause grievous bodily injury, administers any stupefying or overpowering thing, or wilfully stops the breath of any person and death results. These offenses include sexual violation, abduction, burglary, and arson.

Anyone convicted of murder is liable for life imprisonment. The Sentencing Act 2002 does allow for the a lower sentence if life imprisonment "manifestly unjust" given the circumstances of the particular offence. The minimum non-parole period is at least ten years. Under the Sentencing Act, minimum periods of 17 years or more must be imposed if certain other conditions are met. These include that the victim was an on-duty police or a prison officer, or if there was a "high level of brutality, cruelty, depravity, or callousness".

William Dwane Bell who murdered three people during a robbery of an RSA club received a non-parole period of 30 years, the longest in New Zealand legal history. There are currently only two other people serving non-parole periods longer than 20 years for murder — Bruce Thomas Howse (28 years) and Mark Lundy (20 years).

Section 178 defines the separate crime of infanticide for killings of children under the age of 10 by their mother. The Act requires that the "balance of her mind was disturbed" at the time of the death.

Statistics
According to the New Zealand Police in 2005 there were 109 recorded homicides in the country. Of there 96 had been resolved (the offender was prosecuted).

The Ministry of Justice have found that number of convictions for murder, manslaughter, and attempted murder have fluctuated over the period from 1995 to 2005 with no clear trend. Overall there are about 25 to 30 convictions for murder each year. The figure for manslaughter is about 35.

Comparison with other countries can be difficult. This is because countries can have considerably different definitions of offences, and the way crime is recorded can differ. Using the definitions from the first country, the rates for 100,000 population are:
 * United States (5.5); New Zealand (1.7); murder and non-negligent manslaughter
 * Australia (1.8); New Zealand (1.8); homicide
 * Canada (1.8); New Zealand (1.7); homicide

Below are statistics reported by the New Zealand Police and Ministry of Justice for reported offences and convictions for homicide, murder and manslaughter.

Teresa Cormack
Cormack disappeared on 19 June 1987, the day after her sixth birthday, as she walked to school in Napier. After she failed to return home from school, a large search started, but her body was not found until 8 days later, half buried at the bottom of a bank under a tree on a nearby beach. The case went unsolved until 1998 when police sent DNA samples of semen and pubic hairs found on Cormack's body to the United States for DNA comparison. They matched those from Jules Mikus, who had given samples to police at the time of the initial investigation. He was convicted of her murder 8 October 2002.

Chris Currie
Christopher Currie (1985 – 19 August 2005) was driving a car along the Southern Motorway in Auckland, and struck by an 8 kg block of concrete dropped from the Princess Street overbridge in Otahuhu. Ngatai Rewiti, who was 14-year-old at the time of the incident was found not guilty of Currie's murder, but guilty of manslaughter on 6 July 2006. Rewiti has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced will be on 6 September.

The block went through the windscreen of his car, glancing his chin causing a broken and then striking Currie in the chest. This fractured his sternum, which severed his heart's main artery and instantly killed him. The car then travelled another 120 metres down the motorway before striking a pole, causing minor injuries to the other three occupants of the car. Shortly afterwards the youth was arrested and charged with murder and endangering transport and appeared in the Manakau Youth Court on 23 August.

The murder trial began on 3 July 2006 in the Auckland High Court. Rewiti had name suppression and was identified only as "R" during the trial. The suppression was lifted after the verdict. Rewiti plead not guilty to the murder charge but admitted Currie's manslaughter. Crown Prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the jury that Rewiti did not need to have intended to kill Currie to commit murder. Under the Crimes Act 1961, death resulting from an unlawful act — in this case either an intention to cause him harm or to cause mayhem on the motorway — constitutes murder.

Among the prosecution witnesses were Currie's girlfriend who testified that all of a sudden the windscreen shattered and Currie looked like he had been knocked out. Friends of the accussed said that on the Monday following the incident, he told them what he had done. One of the friends said that Rewiti sounded proud of his actions. The jury took four hours to reach its verdict not guilty verdict on the murder charge.

Chris and Cru Kahui
Chris and Cru Kahui (20 March 2006 – 18 June 2006) were two New Zealand infants who died in Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital after being admitted to Middlemore Hospital with serious head injuries. Autopsies showed that the twins had subdural hematoma and retinal haemorrhages, typical of shaken baby syndrome. This and other injuries have resulted in the police conducting a homicide investigation into their deaths. The case has highlighted the fact that New Zealand ranks third highest among OECD nations for child deaths due to maltreatment according to a 2003 UNICEF report.

Before deaths
They were the two survivors of triplets born premature at 29 weeks on 20 March 2006 at National Women's Hospital at Grafton. They spent six weeks at the KidzFirst neonatal intensive care unit at Counties-Manukau hospital. During this time nurses at the facility and social workers had informally raised concerns with a Child, Youth and Family worker, as the parents, Sonny Chris Kahui and Macsyne King did not spend a lot of time with the babies. According to the hospital, parents not visiting is not considered child abuse, but was a "cause for concern".

There had been regular visits to the family home by the hospital as the infants will still technically patients of Middlemore Hospital. At their last visit to the hospital, Chris and Cru were found to be healthy and well-fed.

Deaths
Former MP John Tamihere claimed on 21 June that a member of the Kahui extended family had told him "a young relative" was caring for the babies when they were fatally injured. They were taken to Middlemore Hospital by their mother, Macsyne King, on 13 June, after she returned from being away overnight. At first she seemed unconcerned, just saying that the infants were not feeding. Doctors immediately found that they had serious brain injuries. After being transferred to Starship hospital the police were informed by the hospital. Both were taken off life support, with Cru being the first to die at 5 a.m. on 18 June and Chris died at 6:45 p.m. later in the day. This resulted in the initial serious assault investigation by the police was upgraded to homicide.

Autopsies showed that the twins had subdural hematoma and retinal haemorrhages, typical of shaken baby syndrome. Other injuries included a skull fracture to Chris Kahui and a broken femur to one of the babies. An orthopaedic specialist told The Sunday Star-Times that to break the femur of a baby would require it to be bent to a 90 degree angle, ruling out an accidental cause of the injury.

The bodies were released to the family on 21 June and taken to the Manurewa marae for a tangihanga (funeral rites). They were buried at the Manukau City cemetery on 24 June.

While the infants were in hospital, Child, Youth and Family removed a 12-month-old brother and their female cousin, aged six months from two rented Housing New Zealand homes — one in Clendon, the other in Mangere — where the Kahui babies had lived. Police said they were treated in hospital for injuries resulting from "neglect". They had been found to be malnourished and "dirty".

Homicide investigation
The police believe while the infants were in hospital, but before their deaths, the family agreed to be uncooperative with any investigation. Pita Sharples, the co-leader of the Māori Party had said the family had agreed to talk to police on 26 June, but this did not eventuate. Following this Sharples said he was disgusted by the behaviour of the family. He claimed some members of the family were more interested in going "to the pub and have a drink" than coming forward to police. Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was "absolutely shocking" for the family to hide behind the funeral and that everyone in the country was "shocked and revolted" by the injuries. There were even reports that gang members were threatening the Kahui family with utu or revenge over their refusal to speak.

After refusing to speak to police in the week after the death, police went to family homes on 27 June. They escorted at least four family members to police stations. This included the children's mother and aunt. By 4 July at least 20 extended family members had been interviewed. Along with them, 90 medical practitioners and staff who were in contact with the babies have been questioned. Items including clothing were removed from the homes by forensic scientists.

The homes where the babies lived was also home to at least nine adult occupants, of whom eight were on some form of social welfare. They may have been receiving payments totalling between $845 and $1395 a week, depending on their ages and circumstances. This has prompted an investigation by Work and Income New Zealand as to whether all the payments where legitimate. The Clendon house had been occupied for two to three months but no sign that babies were living there was noted by the Neighbours. They said Tuesday and Thursday nights were "party night" as this was when benefit payments were made. Loud music and fighting was often heard. One neighbour said a sixteen-year-old female appeared on their doorstep at 3:30 a.m. one morning after she said an older man at the Clendon house attempted to sexually assault her.

Famous murderers
Below are some of the more infamous murderers in New Zealand history

David Bain
Bain was convicted of murdering his parents and siblings in their Dunedin home on 20 June 1994. He has always denied the murders saying that he was on his paper run at the time and returned home to find his family dead. The most accepted alternate the police version of events is that Bain's father Robin shot his family.

Minnie Dean
Dean was convicted of the infanticide of three children in her care and the only woman executed in New Zealand. Dean and her husband had fallen on hard times after the gold rush ended. She had begun to take in unwanted children in exchange for money. Legislation at the time did not require her to keep records, so although it was suspected children in her care were disappearing, it was hard to prove. Then in 1895 she was observed boarding a train with a baby, but she did not have it when she got off. After her arrest, three bodies were found in her garden. At her trial, she claimed all the deaths were accidental. Convicted, she was hung on 12 August 1895.

Stanley Graham
After an argument with his neighbour, over alleged poisoning his cows, police were called the mediate on 8 October 1941. After Graham pointed a rifle at the officer, Edward Best, Best retreated and called in back-up. When the arrived Graham opened fire, killing three people. A massive manhunt ensued, and after 12 days on the run, Graham was shot dead.

David Gray
The massacre began on 13 November 1990 when Gray shot a neighbour after an argument. Among his thirteen victims was Stewart Guthrie, a police officer from the near-by town of Port Chalmers. For his actions Guthrie received a posthumous George Cross.

Mark Lundy
Lundy was convicted of the axe murders of his wife and daughter. According to police Lundy tried to establish an alibi for the murders by being in Petone on the day of the murders. However after booking into a motel at 5.30 p.m. on 29 August 2000 he drove at high speed back to Palmerston North where he blugeoned first he wife and then his daughter with a tomahawk-like weapon. He then drove back to Petone and at 11.30 p.m. called an escort agency for a prostitute. Lundy continues to plead his innocence.

Parker–Hulme murder case
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murdered Parker's mother Honora Rieper in June 1954. The two girls formed an elaborate fantasy life together and would sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving fictional characters they had created. Their parents found this disturbing. when their parents attempted to compel them to remain separate, the girls formed a plan to murder Pauline Parker's mother and escape to the United States. It was the basis of the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures.