Man jailed for savagely beating his NZ mother, Angela Huata, to death in their Melbourne home

Tia Minhinnick will spend at least 15 years behind bars for the vicious murder of his mother. Photo / 123rf

WARNING: This article contains details that may be upsetting to some readers

Tia Minhinnick will spend at least 15 years behind bars for the murder of Kiwi mother-of-five Angela Huata in Melbourne’s southeast in February 2022.

A man who savagely beat his mother to death in a drunken and drug-fuelled rage will spend the rest of his young adulthood behind bars.

Tia Minhinnick has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for murdering his mother, 41-year-old New Zealand woman Angela Huata, at their home in Springvale, in Melbourne’s southeast, in February last year.

Minhinnick, who was aged 20 at the time, had a “highly conflictual” relationship with his mother in the lead-up to the attack.

He had spent the night drinking with friends and acting erratically, punching and headbutting his friend outside, before returning home.

The belief that his mother was mistreating his baby sister, mixed with a cocktail of alcohol and drug use, prompted the “vicious assault” on the night of February 9.

His housemates arrived home before midnight to find him standing over and yelling at his mother, who was sitting on the lounge room floor bleeding from her forehead.

Minhinnick’s housemates retreated to their room after he threatened them when they tried to help his injured mother. They did not call the police out of fear.

He was heard on a neighbour’s audio recording yelling, “Get the f*** up, get the f*** out” as he continued his assault.

At some point, Minhinnick shifted Huata from the lounge room to the garage where he continued the attack before eventually putting sticking plasters over lacerations on her nose and chin.

He wrapped a bandage around her head and, just before 1.30am, messaged his girlfriend, Natalie Jensen, saying: “I think I might of went too far”.

Jensen phoned police about 12.15pm on February 10, lying and saying she’d just arrived at the house before performing CPR on Huata.

Justice Richard Niall described the attack on the vulnerable mother as “protracted, extremely violent and unrelenting” in his sentencing remarks on Monday.

“She was a victim to your shocking behaviour,” he said.

Huata had been stripped naked and was declared dead at the scene. Authorities found injuries including 29 separate rib fractures, burst eardrums, a laceration to her liver and a brain injury.

Minhinnick shook in the Supreme Court stand and stared towards the floor as the judge summarised the case and said a long term of imprisonment was inevitable.

“The sentence I must impose on you (will see a) large proportion of your 20s and 30s spent in prison,” he said.

“It is a significant punishment.”

Minhinnick will be eligible for parole once he has served at least 15 years of his sentence.