Rakuraku, who represented himself during the trial, was found not guilty of threatening to kill one of the complainants.
Mr Wright was bashed and "pelted" by Rakuraku with the Maori war weapon in a Hastings Flat and later buried in a shallow grave near Eskdale, north of Napier.
Mr Wright's mother, Nellie Wright, told the court she suffers sleepless nights thinking about the "horror of knowing the pain and suffering" her son endured.
She refuses to visit the suburb of Hastings where her son was kept prisoner and killed by Rakuraku, but this Sunday will visit the Hastings flat out of respect for her boy.
"I will not allow you to tarnish my son's memory. God, I hate you," she told Rakuraku.
"Johnny was loved by his family and friends ... he gave you friendship and you repaid him by taking his life."
The Wright family is tormented, knowing all they have left of their son, brother and uncle is a blanket, after Rakuraku sold and destroyed all of Mr Wright's possessions, she said.
"I'm just so angry. Now at family functions we have two empty spaces," she said, referring also to her daughter's death several years ago.
"She was the protector of all her brothers. I know she will protect him."
Crown prosecutor Steve Manning said Mr Wright's family has not only dealt with the "horror" of his death and manner in which he died but also the lengthy legal proceedings.
"It has inflicted upon them a further three and a half years of suffering."
He added, the long period of suffering Mr Wright endured was "indescribable" and "brutal".
"All murders are of course brutal, but this one particularly so -- the duration alone sets this case apart."
Mr Wright's father, Charles Wright, said Rakuraku stole his son's money, possessions and dignity.
"Johnny had no show against you," he told Rakuraku. "He was just slight of build and he just couldn't stand up to the height and weight that you've got."
Rakuraku then told the court he was not disrespecting Mr Wright's family by failing to look at them and shuffling through his legal documents as they read their emotional victim impact statements.
"I don't want to infuriate you more by letting my semblance offend you, in particular John's mother and father.
"I can remain in prison until I die if that is what it takes for you to have absolution."
Rakuraku said he was "genuinely relieved" at being arrested after killing Mr Wright.
"It was a sudden relief, almost physical in its intensity."
He said he requested to be absent from his High Court sentencing because he didn't believe he had the "courage" to face the "feeling and hate" in the court room.
Rakuraku said he considered "throwing in the towel" at the start of the trial but ultimately decided to put everyone through the "horror".
"I never wanted to take John's life in a cruel, cold, calculated and premeditated homicide," he added.
Mr Wright's headstone reads: "A gentle person with a big heart, always willing to help others."
