Lachlan Johnson, of Taranaki, was found guilty of manslaughter after fatally shooting his neighbour. Photo / Tara Shaskey
Lachlan Johnson, of Taranaki, was found guilty of manslaughter after fatally shooting his neighbour. Photo / Tara Shaskey
The final moments of Mitchell Mosen's life are now memories frozen in the mind of his grieving mother who witnessed her son's "execution-style death" and desperately fought to save him.
Patricia Mosen's CPR efforts proved to be in vain as her 30-year-old son died on the porch of her Taranaki home shortly after he was shot in the chest by their neighbour, Lachlan Johnson.
"You put so many damn holes in him that no human could help him," Patricia Mosen told Johnson at his sentencing in the High Court at New Plymouth on Tuesday.
"When you blew my son away, you blew my life away as well."
In relation to Mosen's August 22, 2020 death, Johnson, 57, defended a murder charge in a retrial in July this year. The first trial in the matter was held in August last year and concluded with a hung jury.
The jury in the latter trial took only one hour to return a unanimous not guilty verdict to murder.
Johnson has always acknowledged he killed Mosen but claimed it was unintentional and amounted only to manslaughter, which the jury accepted and found him guilty on.
In her victim impact statement, Patricia Mosen spoke about her "treasured youngest son's" battle against brain cancer, which he was still fighting at the time of his death.
Mitchell Mosen, 30, died in August 2020. Photo / Supplied
The journey saw him suffer three fast-growing tumours and endure a number of surgeries, throughout which he was "incredibly courageous", she said.
"The last thing he needed was an impromptu battle defending himself to death against a mindless fool such as you," she told Johnson.
Despite his loss of enjoyment of life due to his cancer battle, Mosen looked to the future with hope, often speaking about one day getting married and having children.
But that would now never eventuate for her son, Patricia Mosen said, and her memories of him are forever stained by the manner in which he died.
"Never a day passes when I don't happen to relive the moments surrounding Mitchell's execution-style death."
Mosen's father, Alister Mosen, described Johnson as "callous and soulless".
He said Johnson had destroyed his family and so he pleaded with Justice Helen Cull to jail him for the maximum available sentence.
"I say to you, your honour, please respect and honour Mitchell's short life by protecting society from Lachlan Johnson for as long as possible so not one other person or family have to receive the devastating news that myself and my family had to receive."
That news detailed an altercation between Mosen and Johnson, who both resided on Korito Rd, about 20km from New Plymouth, shortly before the fatal shooting.
During the confrontation between the pair, Mosen allegedly assaulted Johnson.
Evidence was heard at trial that Johnson was enraged by the incident, admitting he had "never been so mad in his life".
When Mosen left the scene, Johnson, fuelled by alcohol, returned home to retrieve his semi-automatic shotgun and ammunition belt.
He then headed to Mosen's house and barged inside.
The following moments saw Johnson shoot Mosen in the foot, a struggle ensue between the pair, and then a further five shots fired.
Of the latter five shots, one ricocheted and hit Mosen's leg, three sprayed elsewhere, and the fifth and fatal shot hit Mosen's chest - unbeknownst to Johnson and Patricia Mosen.
When the injured Mosen fell to the ground and yelled for help, his mother, who was a key witness in both trials, attempted to call 111 but Johnson tried to take the phone.
She screamed at him and he then backed off and left while saying "I've only shot him in the foot. You're a nurse, you fix it."
But it wasn't long before Patricia Mosen, a nurse of 43 years, discovered her son's chest wound.
Mosen's breathing then became laboured, he was cold and clammy and as he started to lose consciousness she began CPR.
Tragically, he died shortly after.
At Johnson's sentencing, Justice Cull considered the aggravating factors in the case to be a moderate degree of premeditation, serious injury, use of a weapon, and home invasion.
But she did not accept that Johnson had acted in retribution, which the Crown had submitted.
"Given the close proximities of the events and the rage that you felt, I consider that this was your reaction to the altercation rather than contemplated or cold revenge."
Defence lawyer Paul Keegan argued the conduct of Mosen was a mitigating factor in the case, which the Crown rejected.
Justice Cull accepted the actions of Mosen were provocative and that was the operative cause of Johnson's conduct.
She said this reduced his culpability to an extent but was not a complete answer to his disproportionate response.
Justice Cull took a start point of eight years and six months' jail before applying a 25 per cent discount for his "early and consistent" readiness to plead guilty to manslaughter and a 5 per cent discount for remorse.
On the manslaughter charge and a previously admitted charge of unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon, Johnson was jailed for six years.
