Chao Chen appears for sentencing for manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Craig Kapitan
Chao Chen appears for sentencing for manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Craig Kapitan
A carpenter who was acquitted of murder but instead found guilty of manslaughter for the fatal fishing knife stabbing of another man on Auckland’s North Shore amid a heated argument over a perceived insult has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
Chao Chen’s trial took less than a week lastmonth, and it took jurors roughly an hour to find the 32-year-old Castor Bay resident guilty of manslaughter for the January 2022 death of Lele He in Albany.
The manslaughter finding indicates the jury believed he was responsible for the death through an illegal act but did not have murderous intent. Both crimes carry maximum possible sentences of life imprisonment.
“This is a very sad case on all fronts,” Crown prosecutor Fiona Culliney said during today’s brief sentencing hearing in the High Court at Auckland. “Two families in China are left without their loved one.”
Emergency responders were called to the Albany residence of a mutual acquaintance of the two men around 1.30am on January 12 last year, where they found He - a 35-year-old Mt Albert resident, who like the defendant, had immigrated from China - bleeding to death from a severed artery.
The defendant acknowledged being the person who had stabbed him in the shoulder and was immediately taken into custody. The victim died en route to the hospital.
During today’s hearing, defence lawyer Lester Cordwell argued to Justice Geoffrey Venning that Chen’s prison term should be reduced due to the extra layer of arduousness that comes with not being able to speak English and having no other family in New Zealand.
“The only visitors he’s had over the past 18 months [in custody awaiting trial and sentencing] have been counsel,” Cordwell explained. “He’s a long, long way away from family and friends.”
The statement was punctuated by the empty courtroom gallery. Lawyers and the judge referred to a victim impact statement from the victim’s wife, who remains in China with their child, but she was not present for the hearing and it was not read aloud in court.
Lele He, 35, of Mt Albert died on 12 January 2022. Photo / Hayden Woodward
The confrontation that night appears to have been the result of a misunderstanding.
During a dinner with their mutual friend, He was told that someone had called him stubborn and he mistakenly assumed it was the defendant, according to testimony revealed at trial. The victim began barraging Chen with WeChat messages and phone calls accusing him of the insult.
With it getting late and all of them needing to get up early for work the next morning, the mutual friend suggested both men come to his home to sort it out. A heated argument ensued, in which “there was a lot of pushing and shoving”, Justice Venning noted.
Chen at one point went back to his car to retrieve the fishing knife, but the mutual friend got ahold of it and it appeared the argument would end without incident. However, as he was turning to leave the victim made “one abusive comment” that caused the defendant to grab the knife again and attack the victim, causing the fatal wound.
There was a level of pre-mediation by deliberately bringing a knife to the confrontation, “albeit to a lesser degree” when taking the jury’s rejection of a murder charge, the prosecutor said. Culliney acknowledged that Chen had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter instead of murder early on, and in light of the jury finding he was entitled to a reduction of his sentence for that offer.
The defence argued that the stabbing itself was spontaneous, not pre-meditated, and was “not without provocation”.
“He did snap,” Cordwell added. “It’s unclear what was said that led to that tipping point, but clearly it was something that was unplanned.”
Justice Venning noted “a very positive pre-sentence report” in which Chen was described as remorseful for his actions that night, and for ever having driven to the confrontation in the first place. He noted that Chen will “inevitably” be deported to China upon release from prison.
“It is entirely reasonable and understandable the Crown decided to decline that offer [of a guilty plea to manslaughter instead of pursuing murder] but you are entitled to a credit,” he said, also reducing the sentence due to the hardship of being overseas and for his remorse.
Venning declined to order a minimum period of imprisonment, which the Crown did not ask for.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
