Ringleader in vicious killing to serve life sentence

Shaun Sullivan - the violent recidivist criminal branded as ringleader in the fatal 2008 bashing of Featherston man Paul Irons - has been given a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years in prison.

Sullivan, 26, was sentenced yesterday in the High Court at Wellington alongside teenage accomplices Rangitera Spencer Walker, 16, who received a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years in jail for murder, and Andrew Dean Kupa-Caudwell, 18, who was handed a sentence of six years in prison with a minimum of three years to be served.

Justice John Wild said the lethal kicking and stomping of 36-year-old, 57kg Mr Irons was a "vicious, gratuitous and cowardly act of violence" on a defenceless man.

Early on October 9, 2008, Mr Irons was found semiconscious and partially naked with severe brain injuries in Featherston's Triangle Park. Five days after the drunken bashing his heartbroken family withdrew life support.

His parents, Jack and Maureen Irons, read victim impact statements to the court before sentencing, revealing that their son suffered from a form of spinal arthritis that meant he could sometimes barely walk, let alone outrun his killers.

Reading through tears Mr Irons described seeing his son in hospital - his face so severely battered that the family could only recognise him by his hands.

"I have never known pain like it, I thought my chest would explode it hurt so much," Mr Irons said. "What these three cowards have done to Paul and my family, I will never forgive them."

Both parents said the two eyewitnesses to the savage attack - both champion kickboxers - were "just as bad" as the killers for doing nothing to stop it and not calling the police.