Jail-time for Maketu killing

Tyrone Flavell. Photo/file.

Tyrone Daniel Flavell has been jailed for five years and eight months for the manslaughter a year ago of Maketu father of five, Isaac Bushell.

Police at the scene where Isaac Bushell was shot dead in Maketu. Photo/file

Flavell, 20, was sentenced in the High Court, Tauranga, today by Justice Susan Thomas after emotional victim impact statements were read by of six of Mr Bushell's loved ones.

Mr Bushell died after being shot at close range with a shotgun by Flavell on December 8 last year following a party at Maketu. He was found not guilty of murder in a jury trial last month, with Flavell denying murderous intent when he pulled the trigger of his 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, shooting Mr Bushell in the chest.

Justice Thomas, referring to the victim statements, spoke about how Mr Bushell used to bring laughter to his family and how daughter Fern had been sentenced to a lifetime without her father.

She said Mr Bushell's father had spoken about how the control of his life had been taken away from him and he had been robbed of the ability to go hunting and fishing with his son.

Justice Thomas' starting point for the length of the prison term was seven and a-half years. She then reduced that to five years and eight months after taking account of him being a first offender, his age of 19 when he shot Mr Bushell, his offer to plead guilty to manslaughter a week before the trial began, and his remorse.

She did not accept Crown Prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones' argument that the shooting was a vigilante action. However she said it was difficult to conceive of a more dangerous action than to point a firearm at someone at close range and pull the trigger.

"He knew what damage a shotgun could do."

Last month, Flavell was found guilty of manslaughter.

The sentencing comes just after the anniversay of Mr Bushell's death.