Bairds Rd shooting: Michael Keith Robinson sentenced

Joseph Ngamu was shot in the stomach and another man was killed at a block of flats in Bairds Rd. Photo / Google

Angry shouts were heard from the mother of a man shot dead in South Auckland as she stared down her son's killer in court.

"You are breathing and my boy is not," she said to Michael Keith Robinson at his sentencing at the High Court in Auckland.

Robinson, 30, pleaded guilty in May to shooting the 24-year-old and hospitalising another with a bullet in South Auckland last year.

The violence took place at a block of flats on Bairds Rd in Ōtara on February 28.

Joseph Ngamu was shot in the stomach at the Bairds Rd unit and survived, but another man who ran to Ngamu's aid died after a bullet pierced his heart and lungs. His name is suppressed.

"Think about what you've done every single day of your life," said the victim's mother.

"I hope it gives you much pain as you have inflicted on us."

A cousin of the man said he was "senselessly and cruelly taken" from the family, and his death "haunts" them.

"For [him] to be taken away at only 24 is a heartbreaking tragedy and every family's worst nightmare," she told the courtroom.

She described how her cousin was born with holes in his heart and had to undergo surgery.

"He cheated death once, but this time, he has been stolen from us at the hands of another.

"Our lives will never be the same again."

Friends and family of the victim sat in the public gallery.

Robinson has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 12-and-a-half years for one charge of murder.

He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, to be served concurrently.

Robinson sat in the dock and turned to look at the public gallery, and smiled at one point in the proceedings.

Another man, Timothy Kahurangi Huriwaka, who denied charges of murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was put on trial, in which a hung jury and re-trial was declared.

Crown prosecutor David Stevens said even though Robinson had pleaded guilty to murder, Huriwaka was also responsible for what unfolded when he went to Bairds Rd.

Defence counsel Shane Cassidy said Robinson was a murderer, but acted alone.

Huriwaka and Robinson briefly visited the flat on the night of February 28 before leaving and returning later in a car with two others, Robinson armed with a sawn-off firearm.

Robinson was invited into the home by Ngamu, upon which he aimed a gun at his chest. Ngamu pushed the gun down and Robinson pulled the trigger and shot him in the stomach.

A woman attempted to restrain him. A man came to help, and Robinson pulled the trigger on him also and killed him.

The bullet penetrated his chest and heart and lungs.

Justice Simon Moore said the offending was premeditated.

"It's plain from all circumstances you planned to go back to the property to confront one or more of the occupants.

"[Ngamu] is lucky to be alive...as for the [victim], he lost his life."

Robinson had an abusive childhood, and an intrinsic lack of trust in adults, Justice Moore said.

He found solace in youth gangs and substance abuse, the court heard.