Killer who defied protection orders jailed for 15 years

Ms Pareanga had expressed concern for her safety in the days before her murder. Picture / Dean Purcell.

A man who repeatedly breached a protection order before finally stabbing his partner to death has been sent to jail for a minimum of 15 years.

The Herald cannot name the 35-year-old man because of interim suppression orders.

But his victim was Sheryl Pareanga, a 33-year-old Glenfield mother of six.

She had obtained a protection order against her former partner and three days before her death, had complained to police about him breaching it.

The case raises serious questions about the response by police and the courts to protection orders, say women's advocates.

The man's lawyer, Panama Le'Au'Anae, told the Herald his client had been charged on November 14 with six counts of breaching the order.

He was bailed, but never turned up to court.

Ms Pareanga reported another breach to police on December 3. She was dead on December 6.

The gruesome details of the case were recounted in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

The man had gone to a workmate's home to get a ride to work and while there secretly took a knife from the kitchen.

He was dropped off at Ms Pareanga's home, to have one more go getting back together with her.

After arguing with her, he stabbed her 28 times while she tried to flee to a neighbour's house.

She made it inside, but the man followed her, stabbing her in the head so hard the knife was embedded in her skull.

Her neighbour, aged 67, tried to help, and he was stabbed in the face. He fled out a window, as did his wife and two grandchildren.

The man then dragged Ms Pareanga into the kitchen, got another knife and cut her throat.

He then slashed his own wrists and neck and fled.

The attacker fled the scene in the woman's van and drove into a road block which had been set up within minutes of a 111 call to police.

The woman's two teenage sons were at a nearby skatepark with friends at the time and three children were at Glenfield Primary.

Crown Prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the court it was a brutal killing and agonising death.

"There can be no real doubt that the deceased must have been aware at some point that her death was imminent."

Ms Pareanga had also told friends in the days before her murder she feared for her safety because of the man.

Justice Rodney Hansen said Ms Pareanga would have known she was in danger of being killed as she desperately fled next door.

"The ferocity of the attack is best reflected in the blow to the head," he said.

The judge gave the man some credit for pleading guilty to the charges of murder, breaching a protection order and wounding with reckless disregard.

The pleas were entered two days before his trial.

"You told the police you wanted to end things for both of you as you had been through too much pain."

Justice Hansen then sentenced him to life in prison for the murder with a 15-year non-parole period.

Heather Henare, manager of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges, said the case raised serious questions about the effectiveness of protection orders.

"If he had been breaching that many times why wasn't he locked up and jailed?" Ms Henare said.

De Paul House administrator Warren Cole, who had helped Ms Pareanga with emergency housing, said his staff were left wondering what a woman's life was worth.

The victim had been getting her life on track, he said.

"She was a very courageous, determined woman who wanted nothing but a good life and she was wholeheartedly seeking that."

* How it happened

After two assaults, Sheryl Pareangagets a protection order against her former partner in December 1999.

He breaches the order at least seven times over the next five years.

She reports the breaches to police, who charge him, but the breaches continue.

On December 6, 2004 he goes to her house carrying a knife, asking her to take him back. When she refuses he kills her.