Five jailed for manslaughter of NZ teen in Australia

Jon Warena. Photo / NZPA

PERTH - Two men and three teenagers have been given sentences of between 14 months and eight years for the manslaughter of a New Zealand teenager, killed in a 2007 Perth street brawl.

Everett James Tyson, 35, Giles Lawrence Tyson, 41, and three teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Jon Teotinga Warena, 18, from Napier.

The group also pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to Charleston Ngaha, 25, badly injured in the same brawl.

All five were sentenced in the West Australian Supreme Court today over the incident which stemmed from a wild street brawl between a group of Maori and Aboriginal men in the Perth suburb of Lockridge in November 2007.

Mr Warena was killed in the brawl.

Sentencing the five, Justice John McKechnie said Mr Warena was effectively beaten to death as he was kicked, punched and stomped on by the men and teenagers, who had been retaliating for an attack on a home by the Maori group of about eight men.

Justice McKechnie said their actions had been far in excess of justified provocation and that they had set out to injure Mr Warena and Mr Ngaha in the worst way.

Everett Tyson was jailed for eight years while Giles Tyson was given seven years.

Both men will be eligible for parole but no parole date was set.

The youngest of the teenagers, a 15-year-old, was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention with a non-parole period of 14 months.

An 18-year-old was give five years in detention and a 19-year-old four years for their part in the attack.

Both were minors at the time.

- AAP