A murderer jailed for life after stabbing a woman to death when he was 15 joined forces with another prisoner to attack a fellow inmate at Otago Corrections Facility. Bronson Kelekolio, 29, and Joshua Felise Nuu, 31, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after admitting their parts in an aggravated assault on another prisoner. At the time of the attack last year, both defendants were serving sentences at Otago Corrections Facility for violent offending. In December 2012, when Kelekolio was only 15, he made the short walk to 22-year-old Sina Solomona’s Ashburton home. He stabbed her 14 times in the back porch area of the property using a kitchen knife, which snapped due to the ferocity of the attack. Kelekolio then slit the victim’s throat with a bread knife and sexually violated her. He initially told police he had been the first on the scene and disturbed the real killer, but officers later found the two murder weapons wrapped in a bloodied shirt, hidden under a car at the defendant’s home. At sentencing, the High Court at Timaru heard Kelekolio and was leading “an anti-social lifestyle” at the time and was already known to police. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 14 and a-half years. Nuu was locked up after being convicted of two Christchurch dairy robberies, but his jail term has been extended multiple times for attacks inside prison. © Allied MediaJoshua Nuu was sentenced to 17 and a-half months' imprisonment for his part in an attack on a fellow inmate at Otago Corrections Facility. At sentencing on Wednesday, the court heard that on September 29 Nuu initiated his attack by punching the victim in the face. The victim stepped away but Nuu continued advancing towards him. Kelekolio then walked out of his cell and approached the victim, who was trying to keep his distance. Nuu closed the distance and punched him multiple times, continuing with several uppercuts as the victim lowered his head to protect himself. Kelekolio followed up with multiple punches to the victim’s head and the duo’s blows caused the victim to fall to the ground. The pair continued the barrage of punches and kicks before Nuu stomped on the victim’s head. Corrections staff told Nuu to stop, but Kelekolio continued punching the victim’s head, only stopping when additional staff arrived. Kelekolio “advanced on staff in a threatening manner”, a police summary said. Eventually, everyone was separated and placed back in their cells. The victim suffered a bloody nose and bruises to his head, face and body, but declined medical treatment. Kelekolio’s lawyer, Philip Ross, said “it was obviously a nasty assault”. While the sentence imposed would not change the defendant’s life term, “he would clearly face some difficulties at the Parole Board over this,” Mr Ross said. The defendant refused to participate in a pre-sentence report, but a case manager said he was taking some steps towards rehabilitation. He was assessed as posing a medium risk of reoffending and a high risk of harm to others, especially if he continued associating with negative peers. Judge Hermann Retzlaff sentenced Kelekolio to 18 and a-half months’ imprisonment. It was not the first time Kelekolio had shown his aggression while in prison. In 2016, he and another inmate at Christchurch Men’s Prison refused to enter their cells at mid-morning lock-up, then used a fire hose to douse their unit. The duo smashed a table-tennis table and caused $6000 of damage before they were pepper-sprayed and restrained by Corrections officers, NZME reported. Nuu’s lawyer, Jacinta Grant, urged the judge not to impose a crushing sentence on her client. “He has an end in sight currently. He’s been in prison since he was 20,” she said. “He’s been put in very young. He’s responded with violence.” Judge Retzlaff acknowledged the defendant’s situation but said he still needed to be punished for his behaviour. “It’s up to him . . . he needs to make a decision to turn around and away from this type of offending.” A pre-sentence report assessed Nuu as posing a high risk of reoffending and harm, particularly if he continued to associate with negative peers. Judge Retzlaff sentenced him to 17 and a-half months’ imprisonment, which will be cumulative on the sentence he is already serving. Nuu had a history of violence behind bars, too. The court heard he had racked up three violence charges while in prison, including one which resulted in his longest sentence — imposed for an attack on a prison officer. felicity.dear@odt.co.nz
