A New Zealand court has sentenced a 15-year-old boy to life in prison for a murder committed when he was 14.
The sentencing coincides with a separate legal challenge to the country’s practice of giving children life sentences, which advocates argue is “harmful and ineffective”. New Zealand’s sentencing laws currently presume a life sentence for those found guilty of murder, unless it is “manifestly unjust” to do so.
The boy, whose name has been suppressed, stabbed 22-year-old Bram Willems in Paihia last year. The attack occurred after the pair had spent an afternoon together, consuming alcohol and cannabis.
Outlining the facts of the case at the high court sentencing on Friday, justice Timothy Brewer said the accused got into an argument and stabbed Willems after the victim acted inappropriately towards the teenager’s female cousin.
Media outlet Stuff reported from the hearing that Willems’ mother, Christy Lacroix, told the court: “You have taken a life that was worth living, a life that I fought for, for 22 years. No excuses could justify taking a life.”
Brewer said life imprisonment was appropriate in this case, despite the youth’s age. He said youth was not an unusual feature of offences of serious violence, and carried little weight against the public interest. He imposed a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Brewer agreed with the Crown prosecutor’s argument that there was no reason to displace the presumptive life sentence for murder, but also said there was no reason to increase the 10-year minimum term, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Separately, the court of appeal is currently considering the cases of three young convicted murderers who appealed against life sentences. The case forms the basis for a broader challenge, asking if it is “manifestly unjust” to sentence children and young people to life sentences.
Aphiphany Forward-Taua, executive director of criminal justice reform organisation JustSpeak, said that New Zealand’s sentencing framework for murder should be reformed, to reflect that teenagers and children didn’t have the neurological development of adults.
“Brain development isn’t fully achieved until the age of 24,” she said.
“In a lot of these young offender cases we see a pattern of behaviour that, in our view, correlates to the lack of neurological development … These young people unfortunately, they make these decisions, and often they don’t actually anticipate the outcome.”
Forward-Taua said sentencing, particularly for young offenders, should be more focused on rehabilitation over punishment.
Last year, in a joint statement, the children’s commissioner and psychology and law academics called for an end to life sentences for children, calling them “harmful and ineffective”.
“No child or young person should be sentenced in the adult criminal justice system,” they wrote. “Punitive adult sentences, such as life imprisonment and minimum non-parole periods, should not be available for children and young persons.”
