A man who beat a homeless man to death during a brutal, hour-long attack has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years - narrowly missing out on becoming the first person to be jailed for life without parole.
Justin Vance Turner, 29, pleaded guilty to the murder of 49-year-old Maqbool Hussain in October in the High Court at Auckland.
Court documents detail a horrific, prolonged attack on the victim, during which he viciously assaulted the victim in a variety of ways while he was on bail for other offending.
Today Crown prosecutor Brett Tantrum urged Justice Mark Woolford to jail him for life without the prospect of parole as was dictated by the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act with this being the defendant's second strike.
Turner was jailed for more than three years and given a first strike warning in 2011 after attacking a female acquaintance and causing her traumatic brain injuries.
Mr Tantrum pointed to a psychological report which "perhaps alarmingly" scored Turner's risk of reoffending as 19/20 on one test and 10/10 on another.
Forensic psychologist Dr Ian Goodwin's report said the combination of a severe personality disorder and substance abuse issues meant he "could not describe the risk of reoffending as anything other than 'extremely high"'.
But Turner's lawyer Louise Freyer said it would be manifestly unjust if her client was ordered to stay in jail for the rest of his natural life, which she estimated would be 45 to 55 years.
"Mr Turner's offending, bad as it was, is not the worst murder. The aggravating factors that one might expect in the worst are simply missing," she said.
Her opinion was backed by Turner's father who outlined his son's dysfunctional upbringing and made an impassioned and tearful plea to the court for "mercy".
Justice Woolford said the defendant's psychological issues and the opportunities for rehabilitation meant it would be unfair to lock him up without the chance of parole.
Turner went on the run after police launched an investigation into the death of the man, who was found in a storage area behind shops in Balmoral on March 22 last year.
During a police interview in April, the defendant told officers he "sort of had a hatred" for the victim because of the man's lifestyle.
On the day of the attack he planned to rob Mr Hussain of money and cigarettes but what resulted was a sustained assault.
Turner said he punched the man in the head as he lay on the bed for up to half an hour while demanding money.
"Why don't you just hurry up and kill me?" he claimed Mr Hussain said.
He also admitted trying to stab the victim with a nail file but it snapped.
The assault continued as Turner dragged the victim to the floor and began stomping on his head as he lay there defenceless.
"He stomped on him with enough force for his head to be bouncing off the concrete," a police summary of facts said.
"This went on for half an hour."
Turner left the bloodied corpse on the ground and fled the scene.
However, he returned soon after and inexplicably swapped Mr Hussain's pants with his own.
Turner was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years.
Rob Kidd of NZME. News Service
