Wilson jailed for Van Duyvenbooden murder

As irate members of the Filthy Few gang stalked from the courtroom, Chris Henderson smiled and wiped away tears.

A year after her sister Jo-Anne Van Duyvenbooden, aged 32, was found dead at her Welcome Bay home, Mrs Henderson watched as James Henry Wilson, 41, was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua to life imprisonment for her murder.

Ms Van Duyvenbooden was shot three times, dragged from her home, thrown down a bank and had her mattress dumped on top of her body.

Wilson, the former president of the Tauranga chapter of the Filthy Few, nodded to his family and supporters as he was led from the courtroom, no signs of remorse in the pale eyes that gazed out from below a forehead tattooed "Forever Filthy."

Mrs Henderson took some time to collect herself and then gathered together her husband, Brett, her brother, John Van Duyvenbooden, and his wife, Joy, for a celebratory drink at a local pub.

She said it was what Jo would have wanted them to do.

During sentencing, Justice Noel Anderson described Wilson as an intelligent man whose talents had been sadly misdirected.

"You are a man who has set your face and intelligence against society," he told Wilson, who was also sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for trying to get an unidentified man to take the blame for the murder.

In his closing argument, defence lawyer Louis Bidois said it was rivalry within the gang which led to the sex worker's murder. Wilson had no reason to kill the "upstanding" woman with whom he had had a brief relationship, but his main rival within the gang, Ms Van Duyvenbooden's partner David Barnett, did have a motive.

Mr Bidois described the Crown's witnesses, who said Wilson admitted to the crime and hated Ms Van Duyvenbooden, as a parade of self-confessed liars, prostitutes, career criminals and drug dealers.

Mr Bidois suggested that the "fiery" Mr Barnett shot the victim, execution style, in a fit of rage and jealousy, pulled her bed to pieces and rolled her car down the bank after her. Then he convinced his associates to "rat" on Wilson.

Crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones said Mr Barnett lacked the intellect to set up a conspiracy against Wilson and was devastated by his partner's death.

"Do you think this man had the organisational and leadership skills to mastermind a conspiracy of these proportions?"

Wilson had several alibis and none of them rang true. The accused claimed that he was in bed asleep when the murder took place, but several calls were made on his cellphone during the relevant period.

The Crown alleged Wilson knew the victim was home alone as her flatmate, Kamie Tadema, stopped by Pandora's massage parlour, where the accused had been staying, to say she was headed to a Creed concert.

Mr Hollister-Jones also said the victim's interest in manufacturing methamphetamines, or speed, the gang's "bread and butter," was a threat to Wilson.