Coral's killer gets life, 15 years' non-parole

11.45am

The man who killed Wairarapa school girl Coral Burrows was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 15-year non-parole period in the High Court at Wellington this morning.

Steven Williams, 29, stood calmly as Justice Wild sentenced him, saying he accepted his remorse and early guilty plea as mitigating factors.

But the violence against a young child warranted a lengthy non-parole period, Justice Wild said.

The judge told Williams that he accepted comments in a probation officer's report that Williams was punishing himself more than a jail sentence would.

"I think the fear and disbelieving look that must have been in Coral's eyes as you punched and hit her, the little hand that came up to try and fend off the blows, will haunt you for the rest of your life," he said.

The judge spoke directly to Coral's mother Jeanna Cremen, telling her she was not to blame in any way for what happened.

Coral was killed last September 9 when Williams lost his temper with her after a night smoking the drug P (pure methamphetamine).

Williams punched the six-year-old unconscious after she said she did not want to go to school.

She was driven around Featherston, badly injured, and when she made a noise while being dumped in bush on the edge of town, Williams hit her with a tree branch, fracturing her skull.

A later pathological examination revealed that Coral was alive at the time she was hit by the tree branch.

Williams later put her body in a sack and dumped her at a remote Wairarapa coastal lay-by.

A 10-day-long search was carried out for Coral after she failed to come home from South Featherston School.

Williams pleaded guilty and was convicted of her murder last December in Masterton District Court.

Justice Wild said an attack on a defenceless child in Williams' care was an aggravating factor.

This was worsened by the fact that Williams drove around with a little girl bleeding and unconscious in the back of the car for an hour as he searched for somewhere to dump her.

"As you put her down, Coral made a small groaning noise and you realised she was still alive."

Justice Wild said Williams then struck Coral with such force, he broke the piece of wood he was using as a weapon, and fractured her skull.

He said this was done so he (Williams) could hide what he had done.

Coral's distraught father Ron Burrows stormed from the court yelling to reporters that Williams had not received justice.

With his family around him, Mr Burrows stopped to say: "Williams will get to hold his grandchildren.... Will I ever get to hold my grandchildren?

"No."

Ms Cremen refused to talk to reporters as she left the court.

Her brother Karl Cremen said 15 years non-parole was "not long enough".

He said Ms Cremen, despite the judge absolving her from blame for Coral's death, would always feel guilt.

"We're glad that the rest of New Zealand got to hear that, but she's always going to feel a part of it."

Police inquiry head Detective Inspector Rod Drew said Coral's death was a tragic waste of a young life.

It was "made even more reprehensible" because it was at the hands of her stepfather, "someone she knew and trusted."

Talking directly to Coral's mother, Justice Wild said: "Mr Williams, not you, is wholly responsible for Coral's death. There was nothing to warn you that anything like this may happen."

He said he was giving two years less then the minimum 17-year non-parole period required in the new 2002 Sentencing Act because it would be manifestly unjust not to recognise Williams' guilty plea and remorse.

He said Williams' use of P was in no way a mitigating factor.

"Although use of drugs might explain what happened... it certainly does not excuse it."

He said it was true that Williams was very stressed by recent death threats against him and his family, by his drug use and dealing, and that he had not slept for three nights prior to the killing.

"... (those events) hastened the downward spiral in your life," he told Williams.

Mr Burrows -- wearing a T-shirt with a photograph of his daughter and the message "We love you Coral Ellen" -- and members of his family were in the court room early.

Ms Cremen, dressed in black, and her supporters arrived just before sentencing began.

There was a large public gallery and extra seating for journalists covering the hearing.

Williams, wearing a black and red sweatshirt, sat with his head bowed for much of the hearing. He nodded his head as his lawyer repeated his own statement to police that he was probably "the most hated man in New Zealand".

As his lawyer related details of what he called "a self-destructive lifestyle" Williams began to weep. He also cried as details of the injuries he inflicted on Coral were related to the court.

Fifteen minutes into the hearing a visibly angry Mr Burrows left the court room. He returned 10 minutes later and sat craning his neck to see television monitor footage of Williams.

Ms Cremen sat with her head bowed, shaking it from side to side as Justice Wild told her Coral's death was not her fault.

Mr Drew said the "appropriate" sentence of life imprisonment had been handed down.

"However you look at it, Williams will spent the greater part of his adult life in jail for this crime."

Mr Drew echoed the comments of Justice Wild about the dangers posed to society by methamphetamine.

"In this particular case, I don't think methamphetamine can be used as an excuse for a brutal murder of a young child," Mr Drew said.

"But in general the judge's comments on methamphetamine and the effect we are now seeing in New Zealand of violent and unprovoked crime is huge and it is without a doubt a drug which is a scourge and is going to continue to pose us problems."

- NZPA