Killer gets $10k new leg on ACC

Graeme Burton is serving 26 years for killing Karl Kuchenbecker and injuring four others in a gun-toting spree. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Double-murderer Graeme Burton received a free titanium artificial leg worth $10,000 from ACC to replace the right leg lost when he went on a lethal shooting rampage two years ago.

Burton is serving the third-longest sentence in New Zealand history - a minimum non-parole period of 26 years - after his January 2007 gun-toting spree, during which he killed Karl Kuchenbecker, a Wellington quad-biker, and injured four others.

Police captured Burton - who had been released on parole not long before after serving a life term for a 1992 murder - after shooting him in the right leg, which was later amputated because of the wounds.

This week, a High Court jury heard that Burton was able to stalk and stab a gang member inside prison.

The Weekend Herald has learned that the prosthetic leg is made from titanium parts and cost taxpayers $10,000.

Despite his injury occurring as the result of a violent crime, Burton was entitled to ACC for the cost of the artificial limb.

Accident Compensation Corporation spokesman Laurie Edwards said everyone in NZ was covered by ACC, including people who were in prison.

But a proposed law change before Parliament would rule out compensation for anyone injured while committing a crime with a maximum penalty of two years or more in jail.

Criminals would still receive emergency treatment to maintain life, and rehabilitation to "restore function".

ACC Minister Nick Smith said that under the bill, a decision on whether someone like Burton would receive a taxpayer-funded prosthetic leg would still be made by doctors.

"Burton is an extreme example. It will be up to doctors in individual cases to determine where that boundary is," said Dr Smith.

"My hope would be that cases like Burton would be consigned to history. There's not a bone in my body with compassion for him."

Burton, 38, was this week convicted of trying to kill Head Hunter gang member Dwayne Marsh in Paremoremo maximum-security prison.

He stabbed Marsh seven times - including three times in the heart - with a sharpened steel rod.

The strongly built Burton, who spends most of his time lifting gym weights, has sparked prison riots and threatened guards while inside.

He will now spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.

Paul Kuchenbecker, father of Karl Kuchenbecker, told the Weekend Herald that New Zealand was "too soft" when an artificial leg for a convicted double killer cost taxpayers $10,000.

'We've helped him to hurt someone else," he said.

"The taxpayers helped him to continue his rampage while inside. We've given him the mobility to do this."