Man sentenced for involvement in death of Whangārei resident Bob Kleiman

Police at the scene of an alleged murder in Onerahi in October, 2022. Photo / NZME

A prisoner’s phonecall to his girlfriend, in which he tried to help a fellow inmate conceal an alleged homicide, has resulted in him having to spend longer behind bars.

The revelation of a recorded phone call from a prisoner attempting to aid a fellow inmate in concealing an alleged homicide has resulted in additional jail time for a man already serving a time.

At the High Court in Whangārei this week, Justice Neil Campbell described the sentencing for Talmage Elijah Murray as “slightly more complicated than usual”.

Murray had already been sentenced in May this year to two-and-a-half years in prison for family harm-related incidents which meant Justice Campbell had to consider the totality of his current sentence while addressing the current charge of perverting the course of justice.

On October 26, 2022, Bob Kleiman was found shot in his Onerahi home and a homicide investigation was launched.

In the days following, Murray’s partner made a statement to police about alleged details concerning Kleiman’s death.

Ike Wellington Kingi, 43, was eventually arrested and charged with the murder of Kleiman and remanded into custody at Northland Regional Corrections Facility where Murray was also on remand for breaching a home detention sentence.

The two were acquaintances and Murray made a phone call from prison, which was recorded, to his partner referring to her statement saying “You need to sort of change it,” and encouraging her to talk to another alleged co-offender to get their stories straight.

The court heard Murray had an extensive criminal history littered with instances of defying court orders and authority.

“He has no regard to court processes, to the importance of the court and its sentences. This behaviour is simply a continuation of that attitude.

“The conduct of this crime strikes at the very heart of the administation of justice,” the crown said.

Murray’s lawyer, Jarred Scott, accepted there was an extraordinary number of contempt for court orders in his history and referred to cultural report that went over his upbringing that explained his defiance of the law.

Justice Campbell rejected Scott’s argument saying: “I did not get the sense his parents were the type that had raised him to thumb his nose at authority.”

Murray was sentenced to one year and four months to be served on top of his current sentence.

Kingi is scheduled to go to trial in June 2024.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.