A 16-year-old boy was today jailed for life with a minimum
non-parole period of 15-1/2 years for murdering a taxi
driver.
Shannon Boyes-Warren was sentenced in the High Court in
Christchurch for the murder of taxi driver Abdulrahman
Ikhtiari in Christchurch in December 2008.
Co-accused Randell Legion Wiremu Brown, 20, was jailed 5-1/2
years for Mr Ikhtiari's manslaughter with a minimum
non-parole period of three years and eight months.
The pair were also sentenced to concurrent terms of
imprisonment for assaulting Mr Ikhtiari with intent to rob
him.
Mr Ikhtiari was a 39-year-old father of five, a refugee who
had brought his family to New Zealand from Afghanistan.
The court was told earlier that about midnight on December 5,
2008, the youths were in the central city after drinking
alcohol with associates at a Linwood address. When they ran
out of money, they took Mr Ikhtiari's taxi to go to
Boyes-Warren's home in Linwood to get more. They then asked
Mr Ikhtiari to drive them back to the city.
In Worcester Street, near the Barbadoes Street corner,
Boyes-Warren asked the driver to stop.
He got out of the taxi, opened the driver's door, produced
the knife, and demanded money, Mr Zarifeh said.
A struggle then began between Boyes-Warren and Mr Ikhtiari,
while Brown reached over from the back seat and grabbed the
driver around the head and chest, pinning him to the driver's
seat.
During the struggle, Boyes-Warren held the knife to the
driver's throat, inflicting two stab wounds, and also stabbed
him three times in the leg and in the right hand.
Boyes-Warren then stabbed him in the left side of the chest,
a wound that penetrated his heart.
The youths ran off in different directions while the driver
tried to chase Boyes-Warren. He got as far as the middle of
the road before returning to the taxi where he collapsed and
died.
Boyes-Warren ran to a family member's house where he disposed
of the knife. The pair walked the streets then met up again
and returned to the city to continue drinking.
They later took another taxi home and when the driver asked
for the fare Boyes-Warren struck him in the face and the pair
ran off.
They were found at their workplaces a few days later.
Boyes-Warren was working as a scaffolder, while Brown was a
painter.
Brown admitted holding the driver while Boyes-Warren stabbed
him. Boyes-Warren said he didn't think he had stabbed the
driver.
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