The family of the man killed after being hit by a car and being dragged for 2.4km says today's sentence is of no consolation.
Christine Lafolua, whose cousin Faafetai was killed, said the family had just celebrated Faafetai's birthday at the cemetery this week, along with his son who turned 10 on Monday. She said the family were hoping for a sentence of eight years.
Her cousin's killer, Prestman Vesiputa Tauira, was sentenced to four years and three months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for six months, after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
"We're still angry, we think it is a pack of lies," Ms Lafoula said.
The family have had to wait a long time after two murder trials that ended in hung juries.
The two Auckland High Court trials, in December 2007 and last November, ended when jurors were unable to decide if Tauira was guilty of murdering Mr Lafolua, 24, in Otahuhu in August 2006.
Mr Lafolua, who has three young children, was in a fight at a vigil where a shrine had been erected for a man shot in a gang conflict, when Tauira drove his car into the crowd.
Mr Lafolua was killed instantly. Tauira admitted driving the car into the crowd, but said he was trying to break up the fight and didn't know Mr Lafolua was being dragged underneath his car.
The Crown said he either intended to kill someone or should have known that was the likely outcome.
Tauira's lawyer Richard Earwaker told the court that his client was remorseful and accepted responsibility for the death, although he did not mean to kill anyone.
He said a letter Tauira wrote to the Lafolua family soon after the incident could not be given to the family while the trials were still on-going.
Outside court, Mr Earwaker told nzherald.co.nz that the letter would be passed on immediately.
"It was something that came from him personally," Mr Earwaker said.
But the letter means little to Mr Lafolua's family.
"We're not looking forward to that letter. We don't think it will do anything," Ms Lafolua said.
She said the family would have gotten some closure from today, had the sentence been between seven and eight years.
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