Mikhail Pandey-Johnson, Karl Nuku and Rhys Fournier appear at the High Court in New Plymouth, during their trial for the murder of Dean Browne. Photo / NZ Herald
The mastermind behind the murder of a fellow drug dealer, who was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, is planning to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Karl Nuku, 19, and Mikai Pandey-Johnson, 24, were sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years at the High
Court at New Plymouth today.
They were found guilty of murdering Dean Browne, 38, in a Wellington flat January 21 last year.
A third man, Rhys Fournier, 22, was found not guilty in a majority verdict.
Mr Browne was attacked with a hammer by Nuku as he slept, following a failed drugging attempt. His body was then driven to a New Plymouth garage where it was dumped.
They were part of a drug-dealing gang that called themselves the Killer Clowns.
Although Pandey-Johnson was not at the killing, he was found to be the mastermind behind the plot as he instructed Nuku to carry out the murder, and was found to be equally culpable of the crime.
His lawyer told One News that Pandey-Johnson planned to appeal his conviction and sentence.
After the sentencing today, Mr Browne's distraught parents said they wanted the pair to "rot in hell".
"Dean wasn't the only one who died in Wellington that day, part of us went with him," Mr Browne's mother Faye Bishop said.
Ms Bishop told the court she would never get over the "depraved" killing of her son.
- NZPA
