Long Sentence For Fatal Park Attacker

New Zealand Police National News Release

2 April 2008

A man convicted of murder in December last year was today sentenced in the Auckland High Court to 16 year's minimum non-parole for what the sentencing Judge described as "a mindless act of drunken thuggery" two years ago to the day.

Daniel Houma, who was 19 when he beat 37 year-old Thomas Martin in Glen Innes's Maybury Reserve, was convicted of his murder on December 11 last year. Mr Martin died on April 5, 2006.

Today, Justice Patricia Courtney handed down what is believed to be one of the longest minimum non-parole sentences for anyone convicted of a street-type bashing where no weapons were used.

Houma was also sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment, to be served concurrently, for assaulting a security guard in the Glen Innes shopping precinct shortly after the fatal attack on Mr Martin.

Officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley, says the sentence sends a loud message to those who become involved in violence - it has long-lasting tragic consequences for everyone it encounters.

Houma's co-offenders, Penisimani Kulitapa (17) and Timokoi Lanivia (18), were convicted on December 11, 2007, of Mr Thomas's manslaughter and the assault on the security guard on the same night. They were sentenced in the Auckland High Court on February 21, 2008.

A further co-accused, a 14 year-old who has name suppression, will go to trial charged with Mr Martin's murder in July.

ENDS

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