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A man who admitted murdering his landlady has been jailed for 17and a half years.
Dean Joseph Shepherd, 45, of Manurewa, south Auckland, had earlier denied the murder of Darunee Aphiromlerk in October 2004.
Shepherd changed his plea three days into his High Court trial in Auckland in May.
He was sentenced to life in prison today but Justice Judith Potter also ordered a minimum non-parole period of 17 and a half years.
Shepherd was a tenant who owed money to Ms Aphiromlerk and he went to her flat in Manurewa about 9pm on October 3, 2004.
His trial heard after an argument he took her to a spare bedroom, bound her hands and feet, gagged her and covered her in a duvet.
Later that night as she was still wrapped in the duvet, he drove her to Mercer, north Waikato, and dropped her in a stream where she drowned.
The body of Ms Aphiromlerk, a Thai-born New Zealand woman, was found by a fisherman at Mercer.
- NZPA
