KEY POINTS:
The father of one of the victims of the Edgeware Road killings has revealed how the loss led to the breakup of his 19-year-marriage.
Lipine Sila was yesterday jailed for life with a 17-year minimum non-parole period for murdering 16-year-olds Jane Young and Hannah Rossiter when he drove his car into a crowd of Christchurch partygoers in May last year.
In his victim impact report read to the High Court, Jane's father Harry Young said he and his wife Lorraine, who had been married for 19 years, had separated since his daughter's death.
He said he still loved his wife with all his heart, but she had been heartbroken when Jane was murdered.
"How could I console her when I was heart-broken myself?"
Mr and Mrs Young came together at the High Court in Christchurch yesterday to tell trial judge Justice John Fogarty of the impact the case had had on their lives.
They told for the first time how their marriage has been left in tatters because of their devastating loss.
"For a long time, I thought that not wanting to live without her was the same as wanting to die," Mrs Young said.
Mr and Mrs Young emigrated to New Zealand around four years ago, amid concerns regarding levels of crime, drug abuse and violence in East Lancashire.
Jane had adapted well to her new life in New Zealand and made many friends - she was described in court as a "happy achiever"'.
Mrs Young said Jane had been a delightful, happy teenager who loved New Zealand.
She had been "my best friend, my mentor, my absolute pride and joy".
She quoted the last entry in Jane's diary for Sila as he stood in the dock, It said: "Respect for self. Respect for others. Responsibility for all your actions."
- NZPA
