Rae Portman's killer's sentence reduced

Rae Portman.

A man found guilty of the murder and kidnapping of pregnant Hamilton woman Rae Portman has had a year shaved off his sentence.

But a second man who was also found guilty of kidnapping the 32-year-old woman has had an appeal against his sentence and conviction dismissed.

Paraire Hori Te Awa and Dean Michael Addison were tried together in the High Court at Auckland last year on charges arising from Ms Portman's disappearance.

She was four months' pregnant when she was strangled to death at an industrial site in June 2012.

Te Awa was found guilty of murder and kidnapping.

He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of 21 years on the murder charge, and nine years of imprisonment on the kidnapping charge.

Te Awa has maintained his innocence since his trial.

In a Court of Appeal decision, delivered today, Te Awa's appeal against his sentence was allowed. His minimum period of imprisonment of 21 years was quashed, and replaced with a minimum of 20 years.

Te Awa's lawyer Peter Kaye argued that although the minimum period of 17 years for a murder charge applied, increasing it by four years was excessive.

The Court of Appeal agreed, and said the judge erred in taking Te Awa's lack of remorse into account as an aggravating factor.

"Remorse where it exists is a mitigating factor, but its absence is not an aggravating factor."

The court also found Te Awa's previous convictions were not sufficient to justify an increase of his sentence.

"In order to rectify these two errors, we have decided that the minimum period of imprisonment should be reduced by one year."

An appeal against his conviction was dismissed.

His co-accused Addison was found guilty of kidnapping and two drug dealing offences, and was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment with a minimum period of six years.

Addison appealed against his sentence and conviction. The court rejected both appeals.