The scene of the high-profile 2009 murder was the cosy Sandford Arms Tavern, heaving with Friday-night drinkers.
It was January 23 when father-of-three Mark McCutcheon, who had been socialising with friends, was alerted to a fracas outside and went to the aid of a woman being beaten by her Mongrel Mob partner in the carpark.
Watching on, 23-year-old wool presser and mob-wannabe Hulio Ataria was ordered to assist in the altercation by the senior mobster. In the ensuing fight, McCutcheon fetched a rifle - still in its case - from his vehicle and struck Ataria with it, yet was then stabbed three times in the chest.
Gravely injured with a puncture wound to the heart, he tried to drive home, but hours later the well-known 34-year-old nicknamed “Nippy” was found dead in his ute which had crashed through a fence about 1.5km from the tavern.
Hulio Ataria pictured during the 2010 sentencing for the murder of Mark McCutcheon. Photo / NZME
At a High Court jury trial in Napier the following year, Ataria’s lawyers Tony Snell and Paul Mabey - both now district court judges - unsuccessfully argued their client had stabbed McCutcheon in self-defence.
The Parole Board confirmed Ataria would be released in the Bay of Plenty region on March 11.
In its decision, it said the now 37-year-old completed various violence and drug-treatment programmes in prison and had “maintained his effort to dissociate himself from his former gang-related peers”, most of whom are based in Hawke’s Bay.
The board stated he had community support in place and had displayed “a clear understanding of what he needs to do to maintain a stable and prosocial support base”.
There had been no further instances of drug use in prison.
McCutcheon’s widow, Paula Stoddart, sent the board a written submission opposing Ataria’s release, due partly to what her family believed was a “lack of sincerity” in an earlier letter of apology he had sent them.
Yet this week, Stoddart told Hawke’s Bay Today the decision to free her husband’s killer gave rise to a “feeling of relief”.
“No more parole hearings to drag the emotions through,” she said. “We can now let Mark rest in peace.”
The Parole Board’s release conditions include a ban on entering Hawke’s Bay (which would be electronically monitored), to not communicate with any Mongrel Mob associate and not to possess or consume alcohol or non-prescribed drugs.
The board said while these conditions were “for life”, they could be subject to change in future monitoring meetings.
These and other conditions had “prioritised the safety and wellbeing” of her family and community, Stoddart said.
“It’s provided us with a sense of closure and reassurance.”
Ataria had previously appeared before the board in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Following his 2020 parole bid the board detailed his checkered behaviour behind bars, specifically 26 misconduct charges that included 12 positive drug tests.
At his next hearing in 2022, the board deemed he would be at undue risk of reoffending if released and likely to reconnect with gang associates.
It noted he had maintained gang links in prison and gave gang salutes when greeting fellow inmates, but was working through appropriate programmes.
At his arrest in 2009, his first appearance in Hastings District Court made national headlines when his mother, Victoria Stevens, was arrested for barking like a dog - a sign of Mongrel Mob support - in the public gallery. She spent three days in police cells for contempt.
Mark Story is deputy editor of Hawke’s Bay Today. He has spent nearly two decades in local news and covered the murder trial of Hulio Ataria 15 years ago.
