Killer said 'good riddance' to victim

A man who hated having his regular routine or his peace and quiet disturbed was jailed for life today for murdering a rowdy fellow resident at a Wellington halfway house.

Wiremu Pokai Haare, 45, said "good riddance" when police told him Kelly Noema - whom he stabbed 28 times with two large kitchen knives on the morning of August 11, 2009 - was dead.

Haare claimed 37-year-old Mr Noema, who had been repeatedly noisy and keeping other boarders at Mansfield House in the suburb of Newtown awake, was "only a glue sniffer nuisance".

During his sentencing before Justice Jillian Mallon in the High Court at Wellington, Haare remained calm in the dock. As he had done daily at his murder trial last month, he greeted her with a polite "Good morning, Ma'am".

When told he would be behind bars for at least the next 10 years, he bobbed his head as if in acceptance. Justice Mallon said she would leave it to the Parole Board at the end of that time to decide if and when he was fit to be returned to society and able to live "in an appropriate way".

Haare had a lengthy list of previous convictions, including aggravated robbery and killing a kitten.

The judge said he had had a difficult and unhappy up-bringing and had been involved with alcohol and drugs at an early age. For most of his adult life, Haare had lived an itinerant existence and had no contact with relatives.

Over the years there had been concern about his mental state, which was complicated after he suffered a severe brain injury a few years ago. There was a profound change in Haare's behaviour. He had become quieter and no longer drank alcohol or took drugs.

Haare's propensity to erupt into violence, his poor impulse control and limited coping strategies were cited, but Justice Mallon said there was no clear evidence of psychiatric disorder.

That may have been partly because he was unwilling to engage with psychiatrists and psychologists.

The pre-sentence report revealed that Haare was having treatment for terminal cancer, but defence lawyer Val Nisbet said that was inaccurate. His client had assured him the illness was not terminal and that he was well.

Prison was the only answer left, said Mr Nisbet, who described both Haare and Mr Noema as "examples of people in our society who, sadly, fall between the cracks".

There did not seem to have been anywhere suitable for them, although people struggled to provide what they thought was needed.

"I think it is clear there is a diminished intellectual capacity," Mr Nisbet said of his client.

If something annoyed Haare or upset his usual routine, his ability to retain self control disappeared.

But Justice Mallon said "seething rage" at Mr Noema had caused Haare to kill.

It was a savage attack on someone he did not like and went about murdering in a "deliberate and controlled way".

Mr Noema had become noisy and disruptive in the early hours of the morning, when he was seen sniffing from a plastic bread bag containing paint.

Haare had told other residents he was "going to get him".

When the kitchen opened shortly before 6am, Haare went in and took two large knives which he used in a frenzied attack on his victim, who died soon after.

Haare returned to the kitchen, washed the knives in the sink and put them back in the knife block. He told another resident what he had done to Mr Noema and then made himself a cup of tea.

- NZPA