A Tuai man with no previous convictions has been sentenced to seven years' jail for the killing of a close friend in a stabbing during a drunken rage in the Northern Hawke's Bay township 13 months ago.
Pukehore Penehio Turipa-Wano, 30, was sentenced by Justice Karen Clark in the High Court at Gisborne last Friday, as a result of the death of Tawari Mita, 20, early on the morning of July 2 last year at a house next door to Waimako Pa.
He denied at a trial last month that it was murder. He was found not guilty, but the jury found him guilty of manslaughter.
In victim impact statements, a sister of the victim said she did not hate Turipa-Wano for what had happened, but she was disappointed he had not sought help for drug and alcohol issues which contributed to the violence.
Justice Clark said the offending was unprovoked and consisted of prolonged violent episodes involving lethal weapons and during which Mr Mita was stabbed twice in his chest.