Graeme Burton murdered two people in separate incidents in 1992 and 2007. Photo / File
Graeme Burton murdered two people in separate incidents in 1992 and 2007. Photo / File
An inmate who started a group attack on notorious killer Graeme Burton with a roundhouse punch has been sentenced to a year and three months' jail.
Tama Tapine, 27, was one of three prisoners who viciously attacked Burton at Paremoremo Prison on May 11 last year.
Burton was severely injuredin the attack and now suffers from diminished vision.
At a trial in October, Tapine pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure, which has a maximum sentence of three years' jail. He was sentenced in the Auckland High Court this morning.
The court heard that Tapine had been interacting with the two other attackers, Te Ariki Poulgrain and Siuaki Lisiate, immediately before the assault in Paremoremo's maximum security unit.
Burton fell to the ground, handicapped by his prosthetic leg, and Tapine then struck him at least twice more. The other two attackers use shanks to stab Burton.
Justice Venning said he accepted that Tapine did not take part in the worst part of the attack on Burton, and was not aware that his two associates would use shanks in the attack.
But he said that Tapine initiated the attack by punching Burton and that he struck the victim in the head.
"The punch you threw was a roundhouse punch with considerable force behind it," Justice Venning said.
The judge rejected the argument from Tapine's defence lawyer that it was not a premeditated attack and that he had only been told to punch Burton 10 seconds before the assault took place.
"I consider your involvement to be more considered and premeditated than you suggest," he said.
Tapine had not shown genuine remorse after the assault.
Justice Venning said he took into account Tapine's personal circumstances in his sentencing.
Tapine was raised in Christchurch, the youngest of six children. It was an unhappy upbringing and his mother was jailed for drug dealing when he was young, the court heard.
He was passed around foster homes, left school with few qualifications, and became involved in gangs, in particular the Crips. He was homeless when he was arrested on the charges which led to him being locked up in Paremoremo.
In 2007, Burton gunned down the father-of-two, shot two other men and wounded a handful of others in Wainuiomata and Wellington - the tragic climax to six months of drug-fuelled offending.
At the time Burton was on parole, having served time for the murder of Paul Anderson in 1992.
Fuelled by a cocktail of illicit drugs and alcohol, Burton had killed Anderson after being denied entry to a Wellington nightclub.
