10 December 2021 | Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster and Superintendent Naila Hassan speak after Eli Epiha was sentenced to life in prison. Video / Michael Craig
The man who killed police Constable Matthew Hunt has been given one of the longest jail sentences in New Zealand history.
Eli Epiha was convicted of murdering the 28-year-old policeman in June 2020 in Massey, and attempting to murder Hunt's partner, Constable David Goldfinch.
The 25-year-old was sentenced this morning to life in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of 27 years.
That sees him join the ranks of some of New Zealand's worst killers, including RSA killer William Bell and the Christchurch mosque terrorist.
Retired law professor Bill Hodge said the Sentencing Act required the judge take into account any aggravating and mitigating factors including whether the victim was "a constable, or a prison officer, acting in the course of his or her duty".
Other factors included holding the offender accountable for the harm done, deterring others from acting in a similar way, and protecting the community.
Sentencing judge Justice Geoffrey Venning had to also take into account the gravity of the offence, and look at the offender's personal background and potential for rehabilitation.
The sentence had to mark society's strong disapproval of the offender's actions while also showing the Court took such actions "extremely seriously".
Mitigating factors included the offender's age and whether they pleaded guilty to the offence or showed remorse.
Justice Venning described Constable Goldfinch's testimony during trial as "chilling" and said it was "nonsense" for Epiha to claim he didn't intend to kill Hunt.
"Criminals need to know that the use of firearms against police officers will have severe consequences," said.
He rejected Epiha's suggestion he should get a shortened sentence for remorse, saying he had an "arrogant attitude" throughout the trial.
Eli Bob Sauni Epiha in the dock at Auckland High Court. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Epiha had faced the possibility of becoming just the second person in New Zealand to receive a sentence of life without parole.
But Justice Venning said such a sentence would be manifestly unjust, due in part to Epiha's age. Life without parole could see him spending more than 50 years in prison.
Hunt's mother, Diane Hunt, has called for mandatory sentences of life without parole for people who kill emergency service workers.
Epiha was also ordered to serve 12 years for the attempted murder of Goldfinch and one year for injuring a bystander with his car.
NEW ZEALAND'S LONGEST PRISON SENTENCES
• The benchmark was set at the sentencing of terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people at two Christchurch mosques and attempted to murder 40 others on March 15, 2019. He was the first person in New Zealand to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
• William Dwane Bell is serving a 30-year non-parole sentence - the second longest in New Zealand history - after murdering three people at the Panmure RSA in 2001 and attempting to kill a fourth. He initially was given a 33-year sentence without parole but this was reduced on appeal.
• Paul Russell Wilson was sentenced to 28 years without parole after sexually assaulting and murdering Nicole Tuxford. Wilson had been jailed for raping and murdering his girlfriend Kimberly Schroder in 1994 but was freed on parole in 2011, with a "glowing report" from the parole board, before going on to kill Tuxford in 2018.
• Russell Tully, who killed two staff at Work and Income in Ashburton in 2014. Receptionist Peggy Noble and case manager Susan Leigh Cleveland were both shot dead when he stormed the office before leading police on a manhunt. Tully, like Epiha, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 27 years.
• After Epiha, the next-longest sentence was to Bruce Howse, who murdered his stepdaughters, Saliel Aplin, 12, and Olympia Jetson, 11, in 2001. He was sentenced to 28 years without parole but this was reduced to 25 years on appeal.
