Pair to be sentenced over Portman murder

The men found guilty over the kidnap and murder of Hamilton woman Rae Portman will be sentenced in the High Court at Auckland today.

Paraire 'Friday' Te Awa was found guilty of murder and kidnapping after a High Court trial in November.

His co-accused, Dean Michael Addison, was found guilty of kidnapping and two drugs charges.

Ms Portman went missing in June 2012 after being seen last at a Mt Albert motel.

Her body was later found covered in rubbish bags in a pit on an Ardmore farm near Auckland three months later.

The 33-year-old was four months pregnant when she died.

The court was told Te Awa had bound and gagged Ms Portman and put her in the back of a car, before driving from Papakura to Hamilton where he strangled her with a motorcycle strop at an industrial site.

Addison had ordered the kidnapping of Ms Portman, who was involved in drug dealing, to teach her a lesson, the court was told.

Another man, Lee Rigby, was earlier jailed after pleading guilty to a kidnapping charge.