Man sentenced over killing of school principal

Isaiah Johnson Richard Tai. Photo / Daily Post

Isaiah Tai, the man who killed Bay of Plenty regional councillor and school principal Hawea Vercoe, has today been jailed for two years and 10 months.

Tai, 21, an orchard worker from Opotiki, had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua by Justice Judith Potter this morning.

The court was packed with whanau members of both men throughout the emotionally-charged sentencing.

Victim impact reports read by Mr Vercoe's wife, mother and an aunt moved many to tears.

He died after being attacked outside a Whakatane bar last November.

Crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones said that although Tai had initially denied kicking Mr Vercoe in the head after punching him to the ground, he acknowledged he had done so after expert analysis of CCTV pictures of the attack.

Counsel for Tai, Paul Mabey, QC, said Tai accepted causing Mr Vercoe's tragic death. He praised the outcome of a restorative justice conference between the two whanau.

He agreed with Mr Hollister-Jones that the attack had been alcohol-fuelled. Neither man had known the other.

Outside the court Vercoe whanau members slammed the sentence as "too light" and "a joke".

Tai's sister, Serena Reed, said the outcome was good for her brother.

"It has been hard for us but even harder for the Vercoes."

Mr Vercoe, 36, was an Environment Bay of Plenty regional councillor and principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Rotoiti.

- NZPA