Runaway's killer jailed for six years

A man who sexually assaulted and killed 16-year-old runaway boy in a Christchurch park last year was today jailed for six years.

Thomas Tihema Christie, 26, was sentenced in the High Court in Christchurch today after being found guilty last month of the manslaughter and indecent assault of Shaun Martin William Philip Finnerty-Gallagher.

His battered, near naked body was found in the Auburn Reserve, Upper Riccarton, in February 2008.

A second man, Sonny Avon Rehu, 32, was acquitted and walked free.

The pair were originally charged with murdering Shaun who was on the run from a Dunedin social welfare home after he was said to have "narked" on them over a liquor store robbery.

- NZPA