Dean Robert Carruthers (48) was originally jointly charged with murdering 23-year-old Jamie Ellis on April 15 last year.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to reduced charges of being an accessory after the fact of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and the crime of assault and has been sentenced to seven months' home detention with psychological counselling.
Carruthers was allowed to make a verbal apology from the High Court dock during the sentencing process in Dunedin yesterday. He said he wanted to "say sorry" to the dead man's parents and told them he wished he had "never taken the boys up there".
He was referring to his now 18-year-old son Mark Carruthers, who was sentenced to two years' jail for manslaughter, and Peter Richard Holmes (26), who is for sentence today for the murder of Mr Ellis.
Carruthers drove his son and Holmes to a party in Oamaru on the night of April 14, 2011.
The victim, Jamie Ellis, was present and during the evening. Holmes became aware of a rape allegation against Mr Ellis.
Dean and Mark Carruthers drove back to Dunedin at some stage but returned to Oamaru in Carruthers' Mazda car after receiving a text message from Holmes.
Mr Ellis was asked by Holmes if he wanted to go for a drive and "have a few drinks". He agreed and travelled with the three others to Dunedin in Carruthers' car. Holmes stole a Mazda from Glenelg St and he and Mr Ellis drove around Dunedin before driving north to Blueskin Bay near Warrington. Dean and Mark Carruthers drove there in Carruthers' Mazda.
Carruthers remained in the car while his son, the victim and Holmes got out and spent time drinking and smoking in the car park area near the estuary.
Holmes then attacked Mr Ellis.
Mark Carruthers initially joined in, punching and kicking the victim, but then withdrew from the attack. Holmes continued hitting Mr Ellis with various weapons, including a wheel brace, ultimately causing the young man's death.
The body was dragged about 20m out from the shore below the high tide mark, where a local resident found it later in the morning.
After the attack, the three men travelled back to Oamaru leaving the stolen Mazda at Shag Point Beach. At a service station in Oamaru, Dean Carruthers used two $20 notes covered in fresh coagulated blood to buy some food. The three then returned to the address where the party had been held and Holmes and Mark Carruthers were both seen to have blood on their clothes.
Holmes was given a change of clothing and the three returned to Dunedin where Holmes took Carruthers' Mazda car and set fire to it in Kaikorai Valley.
Carruthers washed his son's blood-stained clothing later in the morning.
At sentencing yesterday, defence counsel Anne Stevens told Justice Ronald Young it was accepted prison was the starting point. But she said Carruthers had been assessed as suitable for home detention and was willing to undergo psychological assessment and treatment as required.
He had been on bail for a considerable time with no breaches.
The offending seemed to be a product of circumstances rather than violent tendencies on the part of Carruthers, Mrs Stevens said. It stemmed from his attachment to his son but he was very conscious a young man had died as a result of events that night.
Carruthers told police he "freaked out" on learning of Mr Ellis' plight and was concerned about his son's involvement. He accepted he had not acted responsibly or properly or with any understanding towards the victim and his family, although Justice Young acknowledged he had done his best to make an apology.
He directly blamed Holmes for influencing his son and accepted he should have intervened in the association with Holmes.
Psychiatric and psychological reports detailed significant mental impairment. Carruthers had a serious brain injury from a head injury suffered in a car accident 30 years ago. The judge said he accepted Carruthers;' mental health difficulties were relevant and that prison would be harder for him than for an ordinary person.
He agreed with Mrs Stevens a sentence of home detention would meet sentencing purposes and would recognise Carruthers' limited intellectual functioning, his lack of previous convictions and that he was at low risk of re-offending.
Crown counsel Robin Bates asked for a nine-month prison sentence, given Carruthers knew of the attack and would have known that by washing his son's clothes he was destroying evidence and could have hampered the police investigation.
Justice Young said what Carruthers did was "seriously wrong", although the judge accepted the accused was helping his son because he was worried. The victim impact report showed the emotional trauma and lifelong pain such a death caused a family.
"As a father, you should understand they find it difficult to understand how you could have helped the killers of their son," the judge told Carruthers.
