Young killers jailed for at least 17 years

Police said John Rowe's murder was cowardly and defied explanation. File photo / Supplied

Two teenagers who brutally murdered an elderly retired teacher have been sentenced to at least 17 years in prison.

Courtney Pauline Churchward, 18, and Lori-Lea Waiora Te Wini, 15, were last month found guilty at the High Court in Rotorua of murdering John Rowe in Opotiki late last year.

Te Wini, 14 at the time of the attack, is New Zealand's second youngest girl to have committed murder. Churchwood was 16 when she offended.

Sentencing the pair in the High Court at Rotorua this morning, Justice Geoffrey Venning refused to make allowances for Te Wini's age by imposing a lesser non-parole period than that of Churchward's.

He told the teens their attack on Mr Rowe had been brutal, sustained and meted out by both of them using Mr Rowe's own sticks.

Their actions had stemmed from a home invasion of his property with the intention of stealing either money or valuables to buy drugs.

As Mr Rowe's neighbour, Te Wini had known he was old and frail.

Justice Venning also slammed the girls' families for failing them in "the most basic of ways" in their upbringing. The two are first cousins.

Outside the court the girls' families refused to comment on the sentencings or the judge's comments, however, Mr Rowe's son Patrick said the judge had handled the sentencing well.

"We are satisfied as much as you can be but you can't replace a loved one," he said.

After the girls were convicted, Detective Inspector Rob Jones said the beating - in which they struck the 78-year-old with a bulky walking staff and a wooden broom handle - was cowardly and defied explanation.

The Crown portrayed the attack as close, personal and brutal.

Prosecutor Duncan McWilliam said the blows inflicted with a walking staff and a thin wooden broom handle went far beyond subduing a frail, 78-year-old man.

Churchward's lawyer, Paul Mabey, QC, argued that she was an experienced burglar - she boasted about how quickly she could rob a house, and could cover her tracks - but not a murderer. He rejected the Crown's argument that the attack was carried out with "bloodlust".

Te Wini's lawyer Gene Tomlinson had asked the jury to "never forget how young [Te Wini] was".

He likened the 15-year-old's role in the killing to being a naive passenger in a stolen car which had crashed.

The jury of six men and six women unanimously found the girls guilty after 4 hours of deliberation.

In recorded police interviews which were shown during the eight-day trial, Churchward had initially appeared brash and cocky.

At first she boasted that she had severed Mr Rowe's head and hands with an axe, a comment she retracted when the detective called her "silly".

She later chillingly leaned into the camera and said she gained satisfaction from violence.

"I am evil. I am evil ... I hurt a lot of people. I know what is right and what is wrong. I am sick of always being a nice person. I am mental."

This comment was dismissed as an act by her lawyer, and Churchward later said she had been imitating an abusive former boyfriend.

But in court Churchward was more sullen.

When presented with a ruler to imitate the way she struck Mr Rowe, she lifted it up and down meekly.

- With NZPA