Permanent suppression for killer

A man who stabbed his former partner to death in the Auckland suburb of Glenfield in 2004 has been granted permanent name suppression.

In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Justice Rodney Hansen said revealing the man's name would be hurtful and harmful to the couple's primary-school-aged children who shared the same surname.

The man stabbed the woman 28 times and was last week given a sentence of life in prison. The children are living with relatives.

The father's lawyer, Panama Le'au'anae, said he was surprised the name suppression application was successful.

"We couldn't find any precedent for it for someone convicted of murder," Mr Le'au'anae said. "But we think we had good arguments."

Mr Le'au'anae said the children had since moved out of Glenfield to a different part of Auckland and would be much better off without having their father's identity revealed.

The man had earlier admitted killing 33-year-old mother of six Sheryl Pareanga at her home in Glenfield, on the North Shore, in December 2004 - just three days after she complained again to police about his breaching a protection order.

He will spend a minimum of 15 years in prison.

- NZPA