Parole denied for Jahche Broughton who killed tourist Karen Aim with bat

Twenty-six-year-old Karen Aim, from the Orkney Isles in Scotland, was murdered by Jahche Broughton (left) as she was walking home from a night out in Taupō. Composite photo / NZME

A killer who has spent more than half his life behind bars for murdering a Scottish tourist with a baseball bat when he was 14 seems more concerned with how he’s being treated inside prison than with rehabilitating himself.

Jahche Broughton attacked 26-year-old tourist Karen Aim while she was visiting Taupō on a trip around New Zealand in 2008.

Aim had been at a party and was walking back to her accommodation when she encountered Broughton who had been at a local school smashing windows with a bat. He attacked her and as she lay badly injured on the street, he continued hitting her with the weapon, fracturing her skull and causing extensive brain injuries.

Broughton pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 12-and-a-half years in 2009.

Several days earlier Broughton had bashed another woman so badly with a rock that she needed 30 staples and extra stitches to her head.

He first became eligible for parole in 2020 but it was at his third appearance before the New Zealand Parole Board in 2023 before he finally gave some insight into why he killed Aim.

“We talked with Mr Broughton for some time about the offending,” said Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young in a decision released to the Herald.

Jahche Broughton killed Karen Aim when he was 14. Photo / NZPA

“He described some of the background and reasons for the attacks as a lack of understanding of who he was, being brought up with no boundaries, and the abuse of drugs and alcohol.

“He said he thought at the time of the violence, that violence with regard to both of these women was, in his words, ‘normal’ and that the offending was ‘an accident’.”

Young said in 2023 the board remained “concerned” at Broughton’s “understanding of what led up to the violence and the causes of violence”.

“In addition, he continues to maintain that there was no sexual aspect to the murder, despite what seems to be clear evidence,” he said.

“The evidence seemed clear that the female victim’s lower clothing had been partially removed, exposing her genitals.”

Broughton appeared before the board again for the fifth time in late October this year. Media were not permitted to attend.

Karen Aim on holiday in Queenstown.

Today, the board released its report from that hearing declining early release from prison on the basis it still had serious concerns about Broughton’s progress “or lack of it”.

“He has spent quite some time complaining about his circumstances in prison,” the board says in its decision.

“Our concern is more that he is focusing on what he considers unfair treatment by Corrections issues rather than his rehabilitation.”

Since being imprisoned more than 15 years ago, Broughton has completed 11 individual sessions with a psychologist where it was deemed he gained some intellectual insight from those sessions, but still lacked emotional insight into his offending.

“He continued to deny any sexual aspect to the offending which, as we have previously observed, seems contrary to the facts surrounding the murder.”

Jahche Broughton assaulted a young woman days before he murdered Scottish tourist Karen Aim. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Broughton noted at the bottom of one psychological report that he did not agree that he needed any further one-on-one assistance with a psychologist to address his risk.

Broughton also told the board that he didn’t want to go into self-care, which would be a pathway into reintegration into the community. The board said he would need to take advantage of all reintegrative opportunities available to him if he wanted to be released from prison.

“The way forward was seen to be one-on-one counselling with a psychologist and then after that was completed and done well, significant reintegrative testing would be important. That was especially so because of the offending itself, but also because Mr Broughton had effectively grown up in prison,” the board said.

Broughton had written a letter to the board which it described as a “series of complaints about how much the past parole hearings, publicity and other matters have caused anguish …”

The board said that by the time it sees Broughton next in October 2025 it hoped he will have had reflected on how he views the offending.

“We hope by then that Mr Broughton has thought about the discussion we had with him today regarding his focus on how unfairly he and his whānau are being treated.”

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.