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A young boy suffered a lingering death over eight days after being beaten by his stepfather, a court heard today.
Johnny Joachim was today sentenced at the High Court in Nelson to life imprisonment with a minimum parole period of 18 years for the murder of seven-year-old Duwayne Pailegutu.
In sentencing, Justice Dobson outlined a brutal beating where the boy was thrown against a wall, struck with a cricket wicket, then repeatedly kicked, eight days before he eventually died.
Joachim repeatedly stopped the boy's mother from seeking medical assistance, opting instead to treat him himself, further aggravating severe injuries.
The seven-year-old died of slow asphyxiation by inhaling blood into his lungs.
- NEWSTALK ZB
