Mark Reihana (left) outside the Rotorua Courthouse in 1999 and via audio visual link in the Tauranga District Court in June. Photo / File
A man jailed for killing Reporoa woman Beverly Bouma nearly 22 years ago has had his family violence prison sentence reduced on appeal.
Mark Peter Benny Maika Reihana was jailed for 20 months in June after pleading guilty to four offences against his girlfriend, including repeatedly telling her he was going to kill her.
The High Court has now ruled the Tauranga District Court judge put too much emphasis on his previous convictions and the gravity of the assault, and has reduced the prison sentence by six months to 14 months.
Reihana was jailed for eight years for manslaughter in 1999 after Bouma was shot and killed in a home invasion in 1998 at their farmhouse, south of Rotorua.
She died while Reihana and three others were robbing the Boumas' farmhouse. David "Blue" Poumako was jailed for murder as he was the one who pulled the trigger on Bouma, but Reihana, his brother, Luke, and another man, Dillon Hitaua, were convicted of manslaughter.
In the Tauranga District Court in June, Judge Thomas Ingram said when a man such as Reihana says he's going to "kill you", it should be taken seriously.
"Men who can't control themselves in a way that Mr Reihana can't need to be removed from society so they don't pose a threat to people. He's already killed someone," Judge Ingram said at the time.
At the time, Reihana objected to what Judge Ingram said and interrupted saying: "I didn't kill anyone, someone else killed her."
Reihana also argued with the judge, saying it was 22 years ago.
But Judge Ingram firmly talked over Reihana and said: "That's right and what's happened over the 22 years, you haven't learned a thing."
Relating to the recent family violence charges, Reihana pleaded guilty to four charges including threatening to kill, wilful damage, assault with a blunt instrument and speaking threateningly.
On August 7 last year Reihana and his partner, who was 12 weeks pregnant at the time, were at their home in Judea, Tauranga.
Judge Ingram said Reihana smashed a table "in a fit of rage" and broke a leg off the dining table and threw it at his girlfriend. It hit her lower leg causing a large red mark.
A summary of facts said Reihana then told his girlfriend: "You just wait b****, I'm gonna f****** kill you."
He also threatened her not to touch his stuff, saying he would kick her head in. He then told her "you wonder why I want to smash your face in".
The argument continued the next day and he again told her: "You wait, I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna kill you."
On February 14 this year, Reihana's girlfriend messaged him to pick them up. He dropped the children off at kindergarten and then drove her and their 2-week-old baby around.
They got into an argument and Reihana told her he was going to "smash" her and she had it coming. He also called her abusive names.
The appeal decision, released to NZME, said Reihana's lawyer, Bill Nabney, submitted to Justice Matthew Palmer that Judge Ingram's starting point was too high because there was no attack to the head, no pre-meditation and only "fleeting use" of a weapon.
He also said the uplift in the sentence for previous relevant offending was "stern, but within range".
Justice Palmer said the increase of six months for previous convictions was disproportionate. He said although they were relevant and some were recent, he instead imposed an uplift of three months. He also reduced the starting point of sentence by three months.
In upholding the appeal, he imposed a sentence of 14 months.
Mark Reihana's involvement in the Beverly Bouma killing:
Luke and Mark Reihana were aged just 17 and 16 respectively when they got mixed up with David "Blue" Poumako, 25, and Dillon Hitaua, 22, smoking drugs and drinking alcohol on the day they hatched a plan to rob someone.
It emerged in their trial that murder was never the intention and the Boumas' property was picked at random in a drunk and drugged state.
The offenders ransacked the house, demanded money cards and pin numbers and Hitaua and Mark Reihana drove to Taupō in Henk Bouma's car where they withdrew $2800 at different money machines.
Back at the house, Henk Bouma, who was badly beaten, was bound and gagged and guarded by Luke Reihana while Poumako dragged Beverly Bouma into a bedroom where he shot and killed her.
Poumako pleaded guilty to the murder and was jailed for life, but he died in prison from a heart attack in 2001.
Hitaua was jailed for 10 years for manslaughter and was freed in 2005 but he met a grisly end in 2009 after his long-time girlfriend stabbed him during an argument.
The Reihana brothers were each jailed for eight years, serving six years, and were released from prison in February 2005.
