Drugs turned man into callous killer, says judge

Drugs turned a man into a "cold and callous" killer who showed no remorse after he shot a dairy worker dead during a robbery, a judge said today.

James Lawrie was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years when he appeared in the High Court in Auckland today on a string of charges.

They included the murder of an Indian shopkeeper Bhagubhai Vaghela, 58, who was dead by the time ambulance officers arrived at the shop in New North Road on June 19 last year.

He had been shot once in the chest by Lawrie, who had already committed five other aggravated burglaries, when he entered Mr Vaghela's shop to steal phone cards.

Lawrie admitted the charges in the Auckland District Court earlier this year and today showed little emotion in the High Court when he was sentenced.

Prosecutor Ross Burns said Lawrie had said he had smoked a kilogram of methamphetamine - $1 million-worth - in the two months before the murder.

He said Mr Vaghela had come to New Zealand to enjoy a well-deserved and planned retirement. He was a kind, considerate and gentle man who put his family first.

His death had devastated his family and his wife had gone back to India. She was constantly ill and the rest of his family struggled to cope with his death.

"His son had said: 'This world is a far worse place without my father being here'," Mr Burns told the court.

Lawrie had shown no remorse, he added.

Counsel for Lawrie, Roger Chambers, said the methamphetamine was at the seat of the offending and Lawrie had little recollection of the aggravated robberies he had committed to feed his drug habit or the murder of Mr Vaghela.

He said the first comment Lawrie had made to him was that he had taken responsibility for what he had done. He also said he was sorry for the grief he had caused, Mr Chambers told the court.

The judge told Lawrie when Mr Vaghela tried to press an alarm, he shot him at point blank range in the chest. "As he fell to the ground fatally wounded, you helped yourself to phone cards."

- NZPA