Judge doing teenage killer no favours with short prison term, says academic

Teenage killer Ngatai Rewiti will leave prison walking a knife edge.

The 15-year-old Auckland boy - sentenced to four years in prison for throwing a slab of concrete from a motorway overpass that killed Taupo man Chris Currie - could see his life moving pretty quickly in either of two directions upon his release, says criminologist Greg Newbold.

"He is pretty well on a knife edge. He will either continue to reoffend, or wake up and make something of his life."

Dr Newbold, a former inmate who is now a Canterbury University sociologist, told the Weekend Herald Justice Helen Winkelman might have done Rewiti a disservice by imposing only a four-year term.

"The courts think they are doing them a favour keeping them out of prison, but they are not.

"The best thing for some kids is to do a bit of porridge ... where there are dedicated staff."

Rewiti will be eligible for parole at the completion of a third of his 48-month sentence, but given he has spent about 13 months in custody on remand, he could apply to be released by Christmas.

"Back-end" home detention - available to prisoners sentenced to terms longer that two years in the final months of their sentence - could be available to Rewiti already.

That means prison and child welfare authorities will have to move fast to rehabilitate him, because "when he gets out, he is back in the mix".

"Probably the best thing for him would be to get out of his environment.

"It's easy to say, but, Christ, who is going to do it?"

Rewiti's father, David Rewiti, told pre-sentence report writers his son was a "respectful" boy, and a promising rugby league player.

However, Otahuhu College teachers quoted by Justice Winkelman at Wednesday's sentencing considered Rewiti to be "a challenging student" who was "frequently" absent from school.

Rewiti comes from a part of Auckland where youngsters wear their caps backwards and speak in a Los Angeles vernacular.

One of Rewiti's friends has previously confessed to feeling "sad" after Mr Currie's death, but "not for that man, but for Ngatai. He's my mate."

The boys - who are always on bad terms with youth gangs in other suburbs - talk about "smashing people", and being "gangstas".

That's why Rewiti would have been better off "doing a few extra years", says Dr Newbold, who also spent time in prison as a youth.

"With a decent lag [prison sentence], you sit down and take stock ... and start thinking."

Dr Newbold hopes prison will put Rewiti back on track.