Mewa Singh, 60, in Christchurch Hospital after being attacked by Jayden Kahl at Linwood Park in April 2023. Singh died after his life support was switched off two days later.
Mewa Singh, 60, in Christchurch Hospital after being attacked by Jayden Kahl at Linwood Park in April 2023. Singh died after his life support was switched off two days later.
Jayden Kahl was sentenced to prison after killing a stranger in a Christchurch park he mistakenly believed was trying to kidnap his son.
Kahl immediately appealed his sentence, which was successful on Wednesday, November 13.
His jail sentence has been replaced with 11 months of home detention.
The man who killed a stranger he wrongly believed was trying to kidnap his son will now serve home detention after successfully appealing his jail sentence.
Jayden Kahi killed grandfather and Indian tourist Mewa Singh with a single punch outside Linwood Park in April 2023. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
In October he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after Judge Justice Melanie Harland took a starting point of five years and considered factors including his mental health, guilty plea and remorse.
Kahi appealed and on Wednesday the Court of Appeal substituted his jail sentence with 11 months’ home detention.
Kahi argued his jail sentence was manifestly excessive and Justice Harland’s starting point was too high.
While the Court of Appeal judges Justices Frances Cooke, Sally Fitzgerald and Pheroze Jagose didn’t accept this point, they did accept error in sentencing Kahi on the basis that when he returned to the park he had the intention to cause serious harm to Singh. They agreed with the High Court Judge that it was a difficult case.
“It must be remembered that the victim was an entirely innocent member of the community who was doing no more than assisting a young child who had been abandoned by his father. That the consequence of his community-spirited actions was the loss of his life is a tragedy,” the Court of Appeal said.
The Judges said given Kahi’s mental state at the time of the offending, his level of culpability was reduced.
“It is clear that Mr Kahi is remorseful, and significantly regrets his conduct,” they said.
They concluded a prison sentence would not serve any real purpose, and the need for rehabilitation and reintegration outweighed the need for individual denunciation in this case.
“We consider that he has significant rehabilitative potential,” they said in their judgement.
“We emphasise that home detention is only the appropriate sentence in this case because of the particular circumstances.”
The incident took place between 7.30pm and 7.50pm on Friday on Linwood Ave, near Linwood Park. Photo / George Heard
The incident:
In April, 2023, Kahi left his 7-year-old son alone at Linwood Park to teach him a lesson after he had refused to go home with him.
When Kahi returned, he saw an unknown man, later identified as Singh, holding his son’s hand near a bus stop and became “enraged”.
Kahi yelled out “that’s my f***ing son”, told the man to get his hands off his son and shoved the man, the summary said.
Kahi then drove his son back to his ex-partner’s house, where his son told him that the man was “trying to walk him to Daddy’s car”.
Kahi went back to Linwood Park and confronted Singh, accusing him of trying to abduct his son.
He shoved Singh and delivered a “haymaker-style punch” to his jaw, and Singh fell and hit his head on the pavement.
The summary said Singh suffered a skull fracture and internal bleeding and died at Christchurch Hospital two days later.
At Kahi’s sentencing last month, Crown prosecutor Christina Hallaway said Kahi’s offending had caused Singh’s family “never-ending harm”, and that they would continue to grieve for the rest of their lives.
“The victim had done nothing to provoke the confrontation. There is nothing to suggest the victim did anything but try to help the defendant’s son,” she said.
Kahi’s lawyer, Anselm Williams, said his client had a great deal of remorse.
“He’s accepted his actions have caused the death of an individual,” he said.
In a victim impact statement read to the court last month, Singh’s son said he was still struggling with the loss of his father.
