Henderson resident Angela Joy Smith was beaten and stabbed to death in May 2020. William Heremaia, one of two men accused of participating in the attack, has been sentenced to prison. Photo / Supplied
Henderson resident Angela Joy Smith was beaten and stabbed to death in May 2020. William Heremaia, one of two men accused of participating in the attack, has been sentenced to prison. Photo / Supplied
A blind and intellectually disabled West Auckland man who was recently diagnosed with incurable cancer has been sentenced to six years and seven months' prison for his participation in the brutal beating and stabbing death of a neighbour two years ago.
William Shane Heremaia, then 51, and co-defendant Ricky Rafferty, 58, were initially accused of murdering Angela Joy Smith after a night of heavy drinking on May 13, 2020 - the first day of relaxed restrictions, allowing for small gatherings, amid New Zealand's first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
But during Heremaia's jury trial in August, Justice Sally Fitzgerald ruled there wasn't sufficient evidence to include a murder charge. Jurors instead found him guilty of manslaughter.
Smith, 49, was a devoted solo parent who "had a heart for people and cared for her community", her brother told the High Court at Auckland on Friday as he gave a victim impact statement.
"I had to break the news to a 12-year-old boy that his mother had died and she'd been hurt very badly in the process," Terrence Smith recalled. "Nobody on this Earth has a right to rob a child of his mother.
"What is hard for me to deal with is the degree of pain Angela suffered. If only I could hold her and tell my sister she was loved ... and provide her comfort in her last moments."
The Henderson unit where 49-year-old Angela Joy Smith was stabbed to death. Photo / Dean Purcell
Smith was found by a pathologist to have died from multiple blunt force and cut injuries. She suffered broken ribs, a damaged shoulder blade, severe bruising, swelling to her face and a brain injury, and there was evidence of stomping, heavy punches or kicking. She was also stabbed in the chest and received a non-fatal wound to her neck.
"There can be no doubt that Ms Smith did suffer a sustained and brutal attack," Crown prosecutor Brett Tantrum said during the sentencing hearing. "Mr Heremaia remains steadfast that he was not involved. It's simply not true. He was involved."
Jurors were told during Heremaia's trial that Smith's body was found inside the defendant's Great North Rd flat in Henderson. Witnesses noticed what appeared to be dried blood on him and he had bruising on his face. His DNA was later found to be on Smith, including inside her clothes and under her fingernails. Neighbours had earlier heard yelling between the two.
Prosecutors also pointed out that four knives were found at the scene. While DNA was only recovered from two of them, and it belonged to Heremaia's co-accused, it "doesn't seem realistic" that Rafferty would use all four knives and Heremaia would use none, Tantrum suggested.
Flowers were placed outside a Henderson apartment building in May 2020 following the death of 49-year-old resident Angela Joy Smith. Photo / Dean Purcell
But defence lawyers Jonathan Hudson and Shane Tait argued that Heremaia played a lesser role in the attack than Rafferty, who has been found unfit to stand trial, and it should be reflected in his sentence.
There was no evidence that Heremaia wielded a knife in the attack, Hudson said. The judge agreed it wouldn't be a "safe inference" for her to make while deciding the sentence.
The defence also emphasised Heremaia's blindness - he can only see shadows and broad shapes - as well as his recent cancer diagnosis and his intellectual disability.
"That [intellectual disability] will place him in a particularly vulnerable state serving a sentence of imprisonment," Hudson said.
Hudson described his client as having been on the benefit for two decades after his vision deterioration resulted in losing his job. That, in turn, led to a descent into alcohol and drug abuse, he said.
Justice Fitzgerald described Friday's sentencing as an unusually difficult one for her given so many still-unknown elements of what happened. But she concluded that co-accused Rafferty - who she described as a "powerfully built man of over six feet" and "by all accounts volatile" - was more significantly involved in the attack.
She described Heremaia, meanwhile, as small in stature and frail. She also mentioned his blindness but noted that it wasn't so disabling that it prevented him from participating in the attack altogether.
"I consider your culpability to be lower but must equally recognise the brutality," she said.
