Transvestite's killers jailed for nearly 20 years

File photo / NZH

Two men were today jailed for a total of nearly 20 years for the manslaughter of a frail Upper Hutt transvestite.

David Shaun Galloway, aged 18 at the time of the fatal bashing of Richard Milton Jones, got 10 years and Phillip Christopher Sanders, 42, got 9-1/2.

Justice Robert Dobson in the High Court in Wellington said he gave the younger man the longer sentence because his part in the "brutal and tragic" attack constituted a hate crime.

Neither man will be eligible for parole until they have served at least half their sentences.

The judge described Galloway's comments that a transvestite did not deserve to live as "hateful".

Galloway had also repeatedly used the mantra that he "believed in Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve".

It was abhorrent to suggest anyone should die because of their race, creed, colour or sexual orientation, said Justice Dobson.

"We are all absolutely equal in the eyes of the law."

Mr Jones, 64, who dressed as a woman and was known as "Diksy", suffered a "savage and sustained attack" at the hands of the two men in his tiny Upper Hutt flat on April 29 last year, the judge said.

Weighing a mere 50kg and standing 1.62m tall, the occasional small-time cannabis dealer was vulnerable and defenceless against the intruders.

The court was told that Galloway and Sanders went to Mr Jones' home. They were out drinking to celebrate Sanders' 41st birthday.

Each blamed the other for the many serious injuries - including more than a dozen blows to the head - which resulted in Mr Jones' death.

Both had visited the flat previously to get cannabis. In the weeks before the assault Sanders, who was on community detention, had argued with the victim and threatened him.

He was later found with some of Mr Jones' property.

Galloway had said repeatedly that he had followed Sanders inside the address "to beat up a transvestite".

Justice Dobson said the jury's finding - a majority (11-1) manslaughter verdict against both men, who were tried for murder - was that they were not satisfied either of the pair had murderous intent when they went to the flat.

In their victim impact statements, two sisters of Mr Jones and his daughter described him as a quiet, gentle-natured man who would avoid violence.

"His family loved him for what he was," said the judge.

The injuries inflicted "obviously couldn't have been more serious".

- NZPA