Raymond Fleet was a good person who loved his kids, says wife Michiko Suzuki (left).
Raymond Fleet was a good person who loved his kids, says wife Michiko Suzuki (left).
The wife of murdered Bay of Plenty man Raymond Fleet says the father of her children was a good person who loved his kids and didn't deserve his violent death.
Michiko Suzuki has spoken publicly for the first time about her grief after the man she loved was brutally killed last year alongside his nephew James at the hands of four others.
They died after a bungled methamphetamine operation failed to return the promised yield.
Both men mysteriously disappeared from their homes one night before being taken to their grisly deaths in a forest on the outskirts of Mamaku on August 7, 2017.
Raymond Fleet (left) and James Fleet were murdered last year. Photos / Supplied
Raymond and James suffered horrific head injuries, most likely inflicted by a shovel. Raymond died after his head was run over by a 4WD with the wheel passing over his face rather than the back of his head.
The final two men involved in the killings were sentenced yesterday in the High Court at Rotorua.
Zen Pulemoana, 27, was jailed for at least 14 years after earlier being found guilty of murdering James and the manslaughter of Raymond.
Mikaere James Hura, 21, was jailed for six years for the manslaughter of both men, to be served concurrently, after the jury found him not guilty of murdering them.
It was said in court that Raymond was involved in the manufacture of meth, but Suzuki said James was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" and was killed only because he witnessed his uncle's murder.
Zen Pulemoana, (left), and Mikaere Hura. Photo / Ben Fraser
Raymond was dad to four children - the two youngest to Suzuki.
Suzuki gave a copy of her victim impact statement, which was not read in court, to the Rotorua Daily Post. She said it was important to her that people knew Raymond Fleet was more than just the man who died as a result of making P.
"Bad things have been said about Ray but I want people to know that he was a good person too. He may have been taking drugs but he never showed us this, he kept that away from us. I never knew - but whatever he did, he didn't deserve to be killed.
"He was a good person."
The victim impact statement described how her children, aged 11 and 15, were struggling to come to terms with the fact their father was gone.
"I just want to say that Ray was a good father and husband. He always took the kids everywhere he went. The boys loved their dad very much."
The statement also said they used to do a lot as a family but now the boys didn't want to do things without him or even talk about how they felt.
Her youngest son was too afraid to go to the toilet at night and when he woke, he couldn't go back to sleep.
Raymond Fleet was a father who loved spending time with his children, according to his wife. Photo / Supplied
"I miss Ray a lot. I miss him every minute of the day. Everything has changed now."
Suzuki said in the statement the family had planned to go back to Japan, where she was from, for the Rugby World Cup next year to visit her family. "The boys were looking forward to it. It won't happen now."
Speaking after yesterday's sentencing, Suzuki said she met Fleet in Japan about 16 years ago when he was there on a rafting trip.
She travelled to New Zealand to visit him soon after but found out not long before she returned to Japan she was pregnant with their first son.
"He said, 'Come to New Zealand and be with me'."
Suzuki said she knew Fleet had a drug problem, but she hated drugs and he would never do it around their children. She said he tried to get help about five or six years ago.
"He tried to stop taking drugs for his family but he was always fighting it ... he tried but he couldn't win."
She said Fleet loved all his children and was always there for them.
Special times such as birthdays and Christmases were now the hardest times for her family. "It makes me feel sad and I am sad for the boys."
Addressing the killers during yesterday's sentencing, Georgina Fleet, Raymond's mother and the grandmother of James, said they were "wannabe" gang members who had caused heartache and anguish.
Raymond was not perfect and had problems with drugs, but he was a much-loved family member and popular in the Mamaku community.
Georgina Fleet said James had also had problems but had got his life back on track with family support.
Becoming emotional, she said the last thing her son had done was kiss his much longed-for granddaughter goodbye. He would not see her grow up and he'd have made an amazing koro. James had been robbed of the chance to have a family of his own.
