KEY POINTS:
The father of two young girls apologised to them in court yesterday, then hugged them moments before he began a life sentence for murdering their mother.
Stephen Robert Rukuata, 25, said from the dock in the High Court at Auckland he wanted to say to his precious daughters how "very, very sorry" he was for murdering their mother in their Papatoetoe, south Auckland, home in November 2005.
He was appearing before Justice Mark Cooper for sentencing after he admitted killing his partner Bianca Nicole Stewart, 20, and was convicted by a jury of her murder.
"I look at you today and I am so sorry for taking your most loving and wonderful mummy away," Rukuata said to his two young daughters as they sat in the public gallery with his parents who are raising them.
He said he would try to make up for the misery and heavy burden he had placed on their young lives.
The judge said Rukuata claimed he was provoked when his partner made highly personal remarks which were hurtful and diminishing of his manhood.
Those remarks had deprived him of self-control.
But the jury concluded the Crown had disproved the defence of provocation when it returned its guilty verdict, the judge said.
In a rare move, Rukuata was allowed to speak from the dock.
He said he addressed the court with deep regret and remorse.
Before he apologised to his daughters for murdering their mother, he said never in his life would there be enough words to relieve the pain and sorry he had inflicted on Ms Stewart's family.
He said he was sorrow to have involved his own family in "my moment of total madness" when he lost all self-control.
"I will try very hard to make up for the hurt I have caused."
The judge said Rukuata stabbed Ms Stewart several times.
One stab wound in her neck went into her spinal cord and killed her instantly. It was also possible some of the wounds were inflicted after she died.
After the stabbing, he left his daughters in the house where they would find their dead mother and tried to kill himself.
The judge said the couple struggled financially and mentally, but drank to excess some times and Rukuata used cannabis.
He said he would impose no minimum non-parole period other than the mandatory 10-year minimum that went with a life sentence.
- NZPA
