Krishan Ranui Dick-Karetai (24) was sentenced today for shooting the partner of his ex-girlfriend between the eyes at a Karitane property on October 15 last year.
The victim, who can now be named as Hemi Robin Toko Tahuri, miraculously survived a bullet to the head and the court heard today he'd had a 1% chance of surviving his injuries.
"When you shot [him] in the head it was as though you shot me too," the victim's partner, Missy Parata, told Dick-Karetai in the High Court at Dunedin.
The father of Mr Tahuri said Dick-Karetai would "be judged by God, your selfish actions after being told no on numerous occasions has changed the course of our lives".
"You failed. Our son proved to you what a real man should be - he took a bullet for his [partner]".
Dick-Karetai and Ms Parata began a relationship during 2020, but she got back together with the victim shortly afterwards.
"She tried to end contact with you, however you would not accept this," Justice Rachel Dunningham said this morning.
Four family-harm incidents preceded the incident on October 15 last year, where Dick-Karetai was the main aggressor.
That was "in breach of a trespass order and you'd been repeatedly told in the clearest of terms you were not wanted there," the court heard.
He began sounding his car horn in a bid to lure Ms Parata out of the house.
Mr Tahuri was outside on his ride-on lawn mower while Ms Parata phoned the police to report the trespassing.
After he went inside, Dick-Karetai got out of his vehicle and went to the front door, taking his loaded .22 rifle with him. He began to argue with Mr Tahuri through the glass door.
Justice Dunningham said Dick-Karetai "kept the weapon out of sight and that meant Mr Tahuri was taken by surprise".
When he was told Ms Parata would not be coming out of the house, the defendant raised the firearm and fired a shot through the door, hitting Mr Tahuri between the eyes.
"I would never ever get the sound of the gunshot out of my head, Hemi laying on the ground, blood pouring from his head, bullet hole between his eyes," Ms Parata told the court.
Mr Tahuri was taken to Dunedin Hospital and later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit in Christchurch.
Ms Parata said he developed several infections, "any of these could have been enough to kill him", but survived.
The court heard his life, and that of those around him, would never be the same.
Victim impact statements read in court explained to Justice Dunningham "what medical reports mean in real life terms".
"The lives of the victims and of their families have been turned upside down."
Dick-Karetai had no previous convictions and was a man of previous good character, his counsel Campbell Savage said.
Justice Dunningham acknowledged that the defendant had received many awards and scholarships, but received little recognition for keeping his family's household running, as his mother suffered from mental illness.
"You are clearly not as bulletproof as everyone believed."
Though he did express remorse, there were indications it was for the situation he found himself in.
"If you had any remorse for your actions you would have stayed and helped... instead you walked away and left me alone," Ms Parata told him.
