Three get long jail terms for killing

Shaun Sullivan - the violent recidivist criminal branded as ringleader in the fatal 2008 bashing of Featherston man Paul Irons - has been given a life sentence minimum non-parole 12 years in prison.
Sullivan, 26, was sentenced yesterday in the Wellington High Court alongside teenage accomplices Rangitera Spencer Walker, 16, who received a minimum non-parole life sentence of 11 years in jail for murder and Andrew Dean Kupa-Caudwell, 18, who was handed a sentence of six years in prison with a minimum of three years to be served.
Justice John Wild said the lethal kicking and stomping of 36-year-old, 57kg Mr Irons was a "vicious, gratuitous and cowardly act of violence," on a defenceless man.
Early on October 9, 2008, Mr Irons was found semiconscious and partially naked with severe brain injuries in Featherston's Triangle Park - five days after the drunken bashing his devastated and heartbroken family withdrew life support.
His parents - Jack and Maureen Irons - read victim impact statements to the court before sentencing, revealing that their son suffered from a form of spinal arthritis that meant he could sometimes barely walk, let alone outrun his killers.
Reading through tears Mr Irons described seeing his son in hospital - his face so severely battered that the family could only recognise him by his hands, which were similar to his grandfather's.
"I have never known pain like it, I thought my chest would explode it hurt so much," Mr Irons said.
"What these three cowards have done to Paul and my family I will never, never forgive them."
Both parents said the two eyewitnesses to the savage attack - both champion kickboxers - were "just as bad" as the killers for doing nothing to stop it and not calling emergency services.
Mrs Irons described her son as a "gentle, caring person" who loved animals and went out of his way to help the elderly.
She criticised police opposed bail conditions that allowed Featherston policeman's son Kupa-Caudwell and Walker to be allowed back into their family's custody during the early stages of the murder investigation as "ridiculous."
In sentencing Justice Wild described Sullivan's upbringing as violent and abusive "as a result your life ahs been marked by violence and anger."
The court heard of Sullivan's 29 previous convictions - 12 for violent offences - and several spells in jail.
Sullivan was blasé throughout the hearing, waving and smiling at family members in the public gallery and swaggering as he was lead back into custody.
He was also sentenced to a concurrent term of one month in prison for bashing a teenager at a party attended by the three killers and Mr Irons in Featherston on the night he died.
Justice Wild said Sullivan instigated the attack, was becoming increasingly violent and was at a high risk of reoffending - it is understood he will serve his sentence at Auckland's maximum security Paremoremo Prison.
In the months prior to the murder Justice Wild said Walker, who was attending Greytown's Kuranui College, was an "out of control" truant who had been "drinking excessively" and "smoking cannabis on a daily basis."
"You were so drunk and stoned when you murdered Mr Irons that you have to accept that you can't really remember what happened," he said.
The judge said Walker was "swept up in what happened" and did not instigate the attack - he also took into account his youth and low risk of reoffending in his judgment.
Crying, Walker hung his head and buried his face in his hands, as he sat back down in the dock following sentencing.
Kupa-Caudwell's lawyer lobbied for a sentence of home detention for his client on the grounds that he had "undergone a major turnaround in performance and attitude following Mr Irons' death."
Justice Wild considered these factors but said Kupa-Caudwell must be made accountable for manslaughter.
"Mr Kupa-Caudwell, I regret that your involvement in killing Mr Irons is just too serious for a sentence of home detention - such a sentence would be seen as an inappropriate response for the seriousness of the crime."
The close-knit Irons' family said they were "pleased with the sentencing" but said although the imprisonment of the killers provided "a sense of closure" it wasn't "final closure."
On behalf of his family, Mr Irons' brother Dave thanked police "for the long, hard work they did" and the jury "who did a wonderful job - it would have been an awful task,' he said.