Mum and stepdad spend six weeks watching justice played as a game
Mikhail Pandey Johnson was like some sort of Charles Manson figure. He raised a family of disciples who worshipped him as he preached his beliefs.
He took and sold drugs, wrote volumes of poetry and lyrics and studied serial killers.
In a frenzied, drug-addled state, the man known as Casper, 22, oversaw the brutal murder of Dean Browne without even being there.
Instead, he used Karl "Little C" Nuku, aged 18 at the time, to wield the hammer which left Dean with massive injuries to his skull.
Beaten to death as he slept, the 38-year-old couldn't raise a hand in his own defence. His body was dumped in a New Plymouth garage days after his death in January last year. The Crown had claimed the murder came after a drug-dealing relationship turned sour.
Puppet master and puppet were convicted of murder in the High Court at New Plymouth last week. Rhys "Tex" Fournier, 23, who helped the pair dispose of Dean's body, was found not guilty.
Together, they were the Killer Clown Fiends. They had patches, wore strips of purple and green material sewn on to their clothing and had hair dyed the same colours.
Pandey Johnson's "family" extended beyond his co-accused. There were others - nicknames included Bongo and Razor. His entourage included blood relations after he was left responsible for much of the parenting his younger siblings required.
As a role model, Pandey Johnson sought inspiration from disturbing places. Detectives investigating the case found a chilling link to another killer clown when they found a shrine to serial killers on his bedroom wall.
There were pictures of a dozen killers, among them John Wayne Gacy, who dressed as a clown to lure 33 boys he raped and murdered.
Around the images were more of Pandey Johnson's writing, the scrawl of a killer-in-waiting.
Such was Pandey Johnson's fascination with Gacy that he spent time on a trip to the United States researching the killer's background.
Dean lived in Auckland and died in Wellington.
For his mum and stepdad, Faye and Ron Bishop, the trial offered a strange kind of relief. Attending court was awful but New Plymouth showed them all that's good about heartland New Zealand.
They had never been to Taranaki and never been away from home for longer than 10 days.
Detective Sergeant Debbie Gower collected them from the airport and showed the couple around town. Staff from the Empire Cafe bought them flowers after a tough day in court. Ron dropped into the bowls club near their rented home where members offered a friendly ear and a beer or two.
They arrived for awful reasons but left feeling they had made new friends.
They needed those friends during six weeks of horror. Sitting in the public seating area at the back of the court, they watched justice played out as a game. Details of their son's life became malleable facts for both sides.
The Crown called Dean a drug addict and the defence said he was a rapist. Each claim suited the case of the lawyer who made it.
"The character assassination that lawyers are entitled to do is terrible," said Ron.
"Every deceased person should be entitled to a legal advocate."
The claims left the Bishops shaking. There was little evidence offered for any of them.
Hearing Dean described as a disintegrating drug addict was horrid and, when CCTV footage was shown in court, they expected to see a ruined man.
Instead, he was healthy and fit. The pathologist later reported the only drug in his body was morphine, which was injected after the attack.
The slurs fuelled their disgust for the justice system and the way it had abused the memory of their son.
Ron made repeated attempts to speak to the judge, to stand in court and defend the reputation of the boy he had known since he was 4.
He was told he could not, something that irked him knowing each of the accused had taxpayer-funded lawyers defending their reputations.
Legal aid records show from January last year to March this year - before the trial - Nuku got $90,119 in legal aid and Fournier received $93,263. For a year of legal representation, Pandey Johnson got $62,994.
In this case, even the witnesses had lawyers. The Bishops can't understand how a key Crown witness was allowed a lawyer but their son was not.
The business of justice meant Dean's death seemed like just another day of work in the courtroom.
There was even hilarity with the murder weapon during evidence by video-link from London. A lawyer waved about the hammer used to kill Dean, trying to get it into the video camera's line of sight. Lawyers laughed, Nuku smirked. In the public gallery Ron and Faye flinched.
They sat repulsed and suffering through the trial. They were told they were not allowed to drink water or take notes in the public gallery.
"We shouldn't have had to kick up a fuss to be allowed a drink of water while sitting there looking at the arseholes who killed our son having water poured for them, taking notes, being given tissues."
The verdict was overwhelming. The next day, both broke down in tears. "The whole thing is horrendous," said Faye.
Ron: "We had to do this for Dean. We were there for Dean."
They know Dean was no angel. He had no criminal record, but had spent a short period on remand at Mt Eden Prison and was evading a legal order at the time of his death.
Faye said Dean did so because his short period on remand had left him horrified at the prospect of going back to prison.
He was so appalled he had spoken to ex-girlfriend, celebrity columnist Amanda Midgley, about exposing conditions in jail.
Months later, when told he was dead, Faye's reaction was a sharp laugh. She thought it ridiculous Dean could die. He was big, charming, clever, handsome and strong. He loved life. How could he die?
Faye and Ron got some answers through the trial, but they don't call it justice.
