'I'll never be all right again'

Louanna, centre, Lowell and Alana at Daryl Graydon's funeral. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The mother of a young man stabbed to death after leaving a party says she is so "broken" by his murder she wants to die.

Daryl Graydon, 26, was killed in Howick in December 2007 while walking home with his friend Campbell Sussex. A 20-year-old man found guilty of his murder was this week sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years.

Another man, also 20, was found guilty of his manslaughter and sentenced to six years. Both have name suppression.

Daryl's mother Louanna read her heart-wrenching victim impact statement during sentencing at Auckland High Court on Thursday. Flanked by her daughter Alana and son Lowell, who held a black urn containing Daryl's ashes, she spoke of the anguish her son's death had caused.

"I wish I could die so I could be with Daryl. If it wasn't for [Lowell and Alana], I would have joined Daryl a long time ago," she read. "I am broken. I don't care about life any more.

"It feels like someone has picked me up and thrown me on the ground, breaking me into pieces. I've been put back together again, but there are pieces missing. I'd be quite happy to go to an early grave than to carry on."

Daryl's killers stared at the floor as Louanna read.

He and Campbell were walking to their homes in Panmure when they got into an argument with the two defendants. The killers went to the home of the man convicted of manslaughter and picked up three knives before returning to confront Daryl and Campbell. The man convicted of murder chased Daryl and stabbed him five times in the back and stomach.

Louanna described his killers as "gutless cowards. People ask me if I'm all right. No I'm not. I'll never be all right ever again."

"Covering my son's face with a veil for that last time before closing his casket, knowing I would never see his face or him ever again almost killed me."

The man convicted of murder wrote an apology to the Graydon family, which his lawyer Barry Hart read to the court. Daryl's family walked out rather than listen to it.

In it, the man said he fled to Australia after the stabbing and tried to take his life.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think of the hurt and pain I've caused you. If had the power to take the burden off you I would," the letter read.

The man hung his head soon after his sentence was passed.

Justice Raynor Asher said Parliament may have to reconsider laws regarding carrying knives. "Somehow the message has to be imparted to young people that it is unacceptable to carry knives in public places."