A man who murdered a 16-year-old girl during a methamphetamine binge by strangling her in a car before dumping her lifeless body on the street has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 14 years.
Vikhil Krishna, who has a history of violence towards women and strangulations, learned his fate in the Auckland High Court on Tuesday morning as he stood in the dock before Justice Peter Andrew.
The family and friends of Trinity Oliver watched the sentencing from a packed public gallery. They sat alongside a small group of Krishna’s family including both his parents and his sister who had travelled from Australia.
Her whānau brought the urn holding Oliver’s ashes into the court for sentencing with permission from the Judge.
Krishna, 25, was found guilty of murder by a jury earlier this year following the killing of Oliver in Manurewa in September 2021, during a Covid lockdown in Auckland.
He subjected Oliver to a sustained assault in a car during which she fought for her life. It remains unclear why he became so angry in the car that he attacked and killed her.
Her mother, Makareta Oliver, stood alongside her daughter’s ashes as she delivered a victim impact statement describing the damage Krishna had wrought on her family.
“What I miss the most about Trinity will be her huge smile,” she said.
“She will dearly be missed but never forgotten.
“You have destroyed my family by taking a daughter, sister, aunt, cousin and moko away.”
Oliver’s older sister, in her victim impact statement, said the court process had been extremely frustrating for the whānau.
It had compounded their ordeal, she said, especially the fact he pleaded not guilty and forced them to sit through a trial and hear lengthy evidence about the ordeal Oliver suffered.
Losing her during lockdown meant they were robbed of the ability to farewell her with a proper tangi, her sister said.
Both defence and Crown agreed a life sentence was inevitable. Crown prosecutor Yasmin Olsen said there were a number of aggravating factors requiring a higher non-parole period than the 10 year minimum.
“He was not so heavily affected by methamphetamine that he did not comprehend his actions,” she said.
“This killing was not a tragic accident.
“Mr Krishna knew what he was doing would cause bodily harm likely to cause death, and he carried on anyway.”
Olsen emphasised Oliver’s vulnerability.
She weighed just 48kg and was seven years younger than Krishna.
He left her naked body by the side of the road near Manurewa train station to be found 13 hours later by a member of the public. Krishna then attempted to evade and deceive police and flee the country before he was arrested and charged six days later.
Olsen sought minimum non parole period of 15 to 16 years, uplifted by six months to take into account his proven criminal history of violence towards women including strangulation.
In 2015, he put his sister in a chokehold then subjected her to an assault causing her to lose consciousness, for which he was convicted. Three years later he strangled his ex-partner with both hands.
In an incident before her death when Krishna and Oliver were in a relationship, she called 111 to report he had choked and stolen her puppy, after which the relationship ended.
Krishna’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC sought a minimum non-parole period of 13 years with a two month uplift for his criminal history.
“He was alone, he was homeless, he was addicted to methamphetamine and he was young.”
He was so heavily intoxicated by methamphetamine he may have been suffering from drug-induced psychosis, Mansfield said.
Krishna had always acknowledged his actions caused Oliver’s death, but Mansfield argued at trial he should be found guilty of manslaughter not murder because he was so out of it at the time of the killing.
His family had left New Zealand for Australia in 2017, but he was unable to go with them because of his criminal history. Krishna was born in Fiji and moved to New Zealand aged 9, the court heard.
Justice Andrew traversed some facts of the murder before handing down Krishna’s sentence. In the days that followed the killing, Krishna gave a number of false and self-serving accounts to police of what happened, and booked a flight to Fiji, Justice Andrew said.
He was arrested the day before he was due to fly out.
A report prepared for the court said Krishna had used 5g of methamphetamine in the nine days before the murder, and as a result he had little sleep. He had previously been admitted to mental health care, the report said.
Justice Andrew agreed there were several aggravating factors, including Krishna’s callous treatment of Oliver’s body and her vulnerability.
“You robbed her of her life, as well as her dignity,” the Judge said.
Justice Andrew adopted a starting point of a 15-year minimum non-parole period.
The Judge said he was owed some discount for his history of addiction and mental health issues. He applied a discount of 12 months, leading to a sentence of life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 14 years.
Oliver’s mother nodded in approval when the sentence was delivered, and her whānau left the court together in silence.