Killer jailed at least 17 years

Jaden Lee Stroobant changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his High Court trial at...
Jaden Lee Stroobant changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his High Court trial at Auckland. Photo: NZ Herald

The man who brutally beat his 69-year-old neighbour to death and then, as she lay dying and unresponsive, sexually assaulted her, has been sentenced to preventive detention and life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

Jaden Lee Stroobant (19) pleaded guilty to murdering the 69-year-old Cunxiu Tian in her family home in January last year.

He had initially denied the offending, but changed his plea on the first day of his trial in the High Court at Auckland in February this year.

Sentencing began before Justice Lang on Friday. When asked in court if he had anything to say for himself, Stroobant replied "nah".

He then fidgeted and muttered in the dock throughout the hearing, at one stage turning to a detective, holding his hand in the shape of a gun and miming shooting her.

As he left the court after sentencing, he screamed at Justice Lang: " F***. I can't ask for better."

Stroobant had been out of prison just 38 days when he killed Ms Tian, the court was told. Shortly before the murder, he moved into a property next to Tian's family home.

On the day Ms Tian died, he confronted her in her Glenvil Lane garden, before dragging her inside and subjecting her to a violent beating. As she lay on the floor of her home Stroobant sexually assaulted her twice.

Crown prosecutor David Johnstone called on Justice Lang to sentence Stroobant to preventive detention. He revealed that since Stroobant was 17 he had been sentenced to prison four times and spent further time in jail on remand after being refused bail.

Mr Johnstone said Stroobant's sexual assault on Ms Tian was "depraved".

"One can only hope that she was unaware of Stroobant's further conduct," he said. "It was brutal, cruel, depraved and callous."

 

He said Stroobant was released shortly before killing Ms Tian from a burglary sentence and was on "special conditions" and being monitored.

Mr Johnstone said the murder of Ms Tian was a "grievous escalation" of offending. And, the guilty plea was nothing more than Stroobant trying to avoid sitting in court for a trial.

Defence lawyer Emma Priest maintained Stroobant never set out to kill  Ms Tian, and that the crime came as a result of him going to burgle her home. She opposed preventive detention.

"This is the first violent or sexual crime he has committed in his life," Ms Priest said. "This was a burglary gone wrong."

She said Stroobant had limited recollection of the murder, the result of sleep deprivation and a "cocktail" of drugs. She said Stroobant "showed a strong prospect of rehabilitation".

Ms Priest said he pleaded guilty, which showed he acknowledged his offending, and that he offered to undertake restorative justice with Ms Tian's family. That offer had been rejected.

Throughout sentencing, Stroobant chewed gum, tried to chat to the security guards who flanked him in the dock and turned to get the attention of his mother and aunt sitting behind him.

Justice Lang said Stroobant must serve life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for Ms Tian's murder.

He then turned to the matter of preventive detention, a sentence imposed when a finite sentence cannot protect the community, he said.

"You appear to have no empathy whatsoever," Justice Lang said, when considering the factors for and against preventive detention.

"No insight into what you have done or the damage you have caused; you appear to have no interest in atoning for what you've done or rehabilitating yourself. You are at a high risk of sexual and violent reoffending in the future."

Justice Lang said two health assessors confirmed that; one saying Stroobant's explanation of his offending was "callous".

"These factors lead me to conclude unequivocally that you are at high risk of reoffending," he said.

Justice Lang said he did not accept the defence position that preventive detention would be "crushing".

Stroobant had indicated he wanted to "get on with life" in prison, so Justice Lang doubted it would make a difference to the killer if the sentence was finite or indefinite.