KEY POINTS:
A High Court judge paused to get control of her emotions today as she jailed a man for life for the murder of his wife.
Justice Patricia Courtney was sentencing Keleti Seau, 45, after a jury found him guilty of the 2006 Boxing Day murder of his wife Atonauga in their Otara home in South Auckland.
The judge said she would have died very soon after her throat was cut, severing her carotid artery and jugular vein.
As she spoke about the impact of the murder on the couple's children who had effectively lost both parents, the judge paused as her voice began to shake.
She stopped in her sentencing remarks for several seconds as she spoke of the couple's children being too upset to make a statement.
She said after slashing his wife's throat, Seau covered her and left their eldest son to find the body.
Seau was found in Thames two days after the murder.
The judge also spoke of a letter Seau had written to the court in which he mentioned his love for his wife of 17 years and the impact her death would have on her children.
She also said Seau's drinking played a significant role in his wife's death, which she described as a brutal killing.
"It is an undoubted fact that if you had been sober, your wife would still be alive."
She said she accepted Seau was very remorseful and was not a risk to the community.
She said for that reason she did not impose a minimum sentence other than the mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison a life sentence would attract.
Throughout the hearing Seau kept his head down as a Samoan interpreter translated and as he left the court he waved briefly to his family.
- NZPA
