'Justice has been done' - family's relief at killer's sentence

Navtej Singh was murdered in a 2008 armed robbery. File photo / Supplied

The man who gunned down liquor store owner Navtej Singh has been jailed for at least 17 years.

Anitelea Chan Kee, 21, shot Mr Singh dead on June 7, 2008 as he and five others raided his Manurewa liquor store of alcohol and cigarettes.

Chan Kee was given a life sentence with a non-parole period of 17 years at a sentencing at the High Court at Auckland today.

Daljit Singh, a spokesman for the family and for Auckland's Sikh community, said the family were pleased the sentencing was over.

"We feel that justice has been done," he told media.

"Also on behalf of the Sikh community we would like to thank the wider New Zealand community and the media who have supported us for the past two years."

Mr Singh said the family would be pleased to meet the families and community leaders of the prisoners as part of a restorative justice process "because they are also suffering", but that the victim's widow Harjinder Kaur had no interest in meeting the offenders.

The family and the Sikh community will now focus on the report due next week by the Independent Police Conduct Authority into their complaint about the amount of time it took before ambulance officers were allowed access to the crime scene.

Mr Singh's wife, Harjinder Kaur, earlier spoke of how her life had been "destroyed" and her dreams "shattered" by her husband's murder.

"Although it looks like we're living our lives, in reality our lives have been destroyed. It's as if I'm living my life as a dead person and there is so much pain in my heart.'

She asked if Chan Kee knew what it was like to separate a husband from his wife, a father from his children and a son from his parents.

"He should have thought about that when he took away a life.'

Ms Kaur said her husband was a hardworking, good, loving husband and father. Her children still asked where their daddy was, "because we need a daddy too.'

She refused to take part in a restorative justice meeting with Chan Kee before the sentencing because she couldn't "sit in front of my husband's killer", but said she might meet with his family.

The widow told the court about the night her husband was wounded and of how she visited the liquor store earlier to drop off dinner to him. When his business partner phoned to say what happened and she went to the scene which left her feeling "numb".

Ms Kaur said she had lost two family members because of the shooting after her grandfather died of shock when he heard the news the following day.

Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery, arguing for a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, said it was hard to see how Chan Kee could have been more callous. "This man, Navtej Singh, was doing what he wanted. He deliberately pulled the trigger and killed him.'

Chan Kee's lawyer Jonathan Down said his client wasn't a "cold and callous killer' but a "young man who acted recklessly while he was intoxicated'.

However, Justice Graham Lang said the killing had been reckless and aspects of it were callous.

"You had a loaded firearm pointed at a defenceless person going about your business. For no reason that I can see you pulled the trigger.'

The judge said the effect the murder had on Mr Singh's family and friends, who had lost him forever and who were haunted by the memory of how he died, were aggravating factors of the killing.

Chan Kee's associates Myron Felise, 22, Tino Felise, 21, Eti Filoa, 25, Walter McCarthy, 19, and Jason Naseri, 21, were all found not guilty of murder or manslaughter at their trial earlier this year.

Tino Felise, Filoa and McCarthy were all found guilty of aggravated robbery of Mr Singh's liquor store.

Chan Kee, Myron Felise and Naseri were also convicted of aggravated robbery after they pleaded guilty to the charge before the trial began.

Myron Felise was sentenced to six years , Naseri six years and four months , and Tino Felise five years for their roles in the robbery. McCarthy was jailed for two years six months and Filoa four years four months.

- with NZPA