Mother of murder victim 'chooses love'

Photo / NZ Herald

A Christchurch man found guilty of beating and stabbing to death a 24-year-old man in August last year has been jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

Adam Robert Gempton, 21, was found guilty in the High Court at Christchurch in July of murder, following a 19-day trial of three men accused of killing 24-year-old Timothy John Constable.

Justice Lester Chisholm had been urged by the defence to impose less than a full life term upon Gempton because of the circumstances around the stabbing, but at the end of the highly emotional sentencing hearing he was not convinced.

He imposed a life term with a minimum non-parole term of 10 years - as asked for by the Crown.

In an extraordinary display of forgiveness, Pauline Constable, the victim's mother, hugged Gempton as he stood in the dock and spoke to him in hushed words. She told the court in her victim impact statement: "I choose love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

Soon after, Stephen Constable, the father of Timothy, who was at the scene of the killing on August 7, 2009, and gave evidence at the trial, read his own statement and then asked permission to hug Gempton as well.

He told Justice Chisholm: "Forgiveness is probably a good thing. I could probably forgive him in the future, but at the moment I can't."

After the statements and the Crown submissions, defence counsel Rupert Glover voiced Gempton's apology to the Constable family, but a family member called out to Gempton from the public seats: "Can you at least apologise yourself?"

Gempton said: "I am sorry for what I did that night. It wasn't my intention to kill Tim. I was just trying to defend my partner and I feared for my daughter's safety, who was inside the house that night. I feared for everyone's safety at the house that night. I never meant to kill Tim. I'm sorry."

There was a "Thank you", from where the Constable family was sitting.

Three people were charged with murder after Mr Constable's death in a fracas outside a house in Todd Avenue, Burnside, but only Gempton was convicted. He admitted using the knife and inflicting a fatal wound that cut Mr Constable's aorta, but his defence said at the trial he was acting in the face of provocation, in self-defence, and he did not intend to kill.

Constable family members said how hard it was to listen to the portrayal of Timothy Constable at the trial as being violent and dangerous. He had turned up at the house to pick up his girlfriend - who other people at the gathering thought was being abducted - armed with an imitation pistol that looked like the real thing. Tensions had been rising with an exchange of abusive texts during the evening, and there had been a threat to blow up the house.

Defence counsel Rupert Glover said: "Timothy Constable turned up with a gun having made various very disturbing threats before he got there including threats to the lives of two small children in the house."

He argued that it must be seen as a very serious provocation, and suggested that a term of less than life imprisonment could be imposed.

But Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said Gempton had displayed premeditation by taking a knife from the kitchen earlier, and had texted someone saying that he intended to stab Mr Constable. She said a sentence of less than life imprisonment could be imposed for murder only in rare and exceptional cases.

Justice Chisholm said the crown allegation was that Gempton had acted in anger and not in self-defence of others, and that he wanted to deal with someone he regarded as "a nark".

"You knew Mr Constable's reputation for violence and you were aware that he had a gun."

Justice Chisholm said imposing less than a life sentence would be sending the wrong message to the community.

Mrs Constable had some advice for Gempton, who is the father of a baby girl: "I would like you to be strong enough to be drug and alcohol free for the rest of your life and to be a good father to your daughter."

As Gempton was led away to begin his life term, his father, whose letter of apology to the Constable family had also been read to the court, called out: "I love you son. Be strong."

- NZPA