A High Court judge said yesterday that he had had tears in his eyes as he read the victim impact reports in the Joanne McCarthy killing.
Sentencing Travis Burns to a minimum non-parole period of 15 years, Justice Robert Chambers said he had been deeply moved by the effects of the murder on the dead woman's family.
"I freely admit that I had tears in my eyes as I read those reports in my chambers. But sentencing is a rational process. The sentencing judge must suppress emotions, particularly emotions such as anger at the senselessness of this crime and the harm that it has caused to the victim, her family and friends."
Justice Chambers said it was clear that Joanne McCarthy had a loving marriage and was a wonderful mother.
Outside the High Court at Auckland after the sentencing hearing, her husband, Kurt Bolli, said their son, Marcus - 11 months at the time of the killing - had his own photo album of his mother and often visited her grave. "He knows who his Mum is but the reality of death - I don't think he does."
Crown prosecutor Christine Gordon had asked the judge for a minimum of 15 or 16 years, but Burns' lawyer, Barry Hart, said that was far too long. Christine Gordon said: "It was a callous, cold-blooded killing of a young woman who had no connection with Travis Burns."
Burns, aged 32, of Titirangi, was found guilty by a jury last month of beating the 28-year-old kindergarten teacher to death with a hammer in her Whangaparaoa home on November 12, 1998.
Marcus and a 14-month-old child whom Joanne McCarthy was looking after were spattered in her blood.
Burns put the body in a bath and turned on the taps in a calculated attempt to wash away the evidence.
But in the fierce struggle, Joanne McCarthy managed to scratch Burns and his DNA was later found under her fingernails.
The attack started as soon as Burns entered the front door.
Justice Chambers said Joanne McCarthy put up a fight to defend herself and protect the children - but it was a tussle she was to lose.
After the killing, and probably while the bath was running, Burns callously looked through Joanne McCarthy's purse and then rummaged through the house.
No doubt what saved the children, said the judge, was that they were "too young to talk."
Burns had never met Joanne McCarthy, although at one stage he had lived just across the reserve from her home. It seemed she was a random victim.
Justice Chambers said that while all murders were wicked, this one was out of the ordinary range, justifying more than the normal 10-year minimum non-parole period.
It was a callous, cold-blooded murder of a young mother, who was killed in a particularly brutal and savage attack.
Immediately after the murder, Burns had driven to Milford to get on a bank video in a clever attempt to give himself a false alibi.
Justice Chambers said that since the age of 15 Burns had amassed 63 convictions, including a rape and the aggravated wounding of a policeman.
The attack on Joanne McCarthy did not appear to be a botched burglary or a sexually-motivated crime. "This killing of Joanne McCarthy appears to have been a random killing with all the hallmarks of a lone psychopath," judge said. " ... I do not know whether or not you are a psychopath but there are certainly elements which suggest you may be.
"As the sentencing judge said in the case of [Sounds double murderer] Scott Watson, if you are a psychopath, then the chances of being released on parole, ever, are remote."
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