West Auckland death: Paul Chapman pleads guilty to manslaughter of Lev Nemkin

An Auckland man who has spent the past year charged with murder has instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Paul Anthony Chapman, 48, entered the plea today in the High Court at Auckland as he appeared via audio-visual feed for what would have otherwise been a routine pre-trial hearing.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald accepted the guilty plea and set a sentencing date for March next year.

Emergency responders found Albany resident Lev Nemkin, 27, dead at a Station Rd property in Ranui on June 19, 2022.

Albany resident Lev Nemkin was killed in a Ranui home in June 2022.

“I heard swearing and carrying on this morning, but they have been quiet since,” a neighbour told the Herald that day. “I don’t know what has gone down, but it looks pretty serious.”

Waitematā CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Megan Goldie initially described the death as unexplained but the inquiries quickly shifted to a homicide investigation and Chapman was arrested four days later.

Goldie said after Chapman’s arrest that police were not seeking anyone else in connection with the investigation.

Chapman had been set to go to trial next month for murder.

Justice Fitzgerald vacated the trial date today.

Both manslaughter and murder carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment, although murder carries a mandatory life term with a minimum period of imprisonment of at least 10 years unless a judge finds such a sentence to be manifestly unjust.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.