Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A man has been sentenced to life in prison and a woman to home detention following the death of Andrew James Little, 35, who was stabbed 13 times in 2019, as the result of a fatal love-triangle.
Today at the Christchurch High Court, Justice Jonathon Eaton sentenced Thomas Issiah Ellery, 25, to life in prison with a minimum period of 11 years for murder and Sarah Elizabeth Barry, 28, to 7 months' home detention for manslaughter.
The summary of facts states that Barry and Ellery visited Little's flat on Skerton Ave, Hornby in Christchurch in October 2019.
The pair went to "seek retribution" as they believed Little threw a brick through their bedroom window and smashed the windows of a van.
Barry and Little were known to each other and had been in a two-year relationship before separating in May 2019.
In August 2019, Barry and Ellery entered into a relationship. Little and Ellery did not know each other.
During October 2019, Little had attempted to rekindle his relationship with Barry, but she "resisted his advances".
On October 7 a brick was thrown through Barry's window where she and Ellery were asleep in bed and the windows of Ellery's van were smashed.
Three days later the pair visited Little's house but he hid so they left.
On Sunday, October 20, 2019, at 7.30pm Barry and Ellery visited an address in Skerton Ave where they believed Little was staying with a flatmate.
Barry began banging on the door to the house yelling "wake up you bastard... we're going to get you anyway".
Little became fearful and told his flatmate to hide in his bedroom and threw something out the window at Barry and Ellery before going outside.
An altercation occurred between Ellery and Little when Little was stabbed 13 times.
He received stab wounds to his right cheek, the right side of the back of his neck, his right upper arm, back, left upper arm and his chest.
During the attack, the knife passed through Little's ribs, entered the chest cavity and perforated the heart, causing severe internal and external bleeding.
Little staggered through the house before collapsing on the floor in his flatmate's bedroom, where he died.
During the altercation, Ellery suffered a cut to his left forearm. The couple left the house to go to a relative's on Pages Rd to get first aid treatment for Ellery's arm.
The relative examined the wound and said it would require further medical treatment so Barry and Ellery drove to the 24-hour surgery on Madras St where Ellery was treated.
At around 11.25pm the pair drove back to Barry's house where they were located by police shortly after.
Barry appeared in court and sat in the dock with her head hung low in her hands while the summary of facts and victim impact statements were read out.
Ellery sat with his lawyers, looking at Little's family as they read out their victim impact statements.
Hayley McDonald, Little's older sister, said she was heartbroken that her only sibling was gone.
"Did he beg for his life? He must've known at this stage he was going to be murdered by you both.
"It makes me sick knowing people like you are in our society.
"No punishment will be good enough today that either of you will receive... the community should be protected from people like you both."
Emma Brewer, the mother of Little's daughter, turned to look at both Barry and Ellery while she read out her victim impact statement.
"Do yous have any remorse for what you've done?
"Some role models you are. My daughter lives with this every day... I will despise you forever."
Little's mother and father also sat in the public gallery with the rest of their family and had their victim impact statements read to the court by a police detective and support person.
Kerryn Beaton QC, representing Ellery, apologised to Little's family on his behalf for the "suffering" he had caused.
Beaton said factors that needed to be taken into account during sentencing were Ellery's difficult upbringing, involving abuse and trauma.
Beaton also noted that Ellery himself was stabbed when he was 19 and had shown remorse for his actions.
Barry's lawyer April Kelland said Barry had also experienced a "traumatic upbringing" that had led her to where she is today.
Kelland said Barry had also taken "huge steps" towards rehabilitation both before and after the offending.
Justice Eaton addressed Ellery, acknowledging his difficult upbringing but said it was clear Little was not responsible for what happened.
"The practice of young men carrying knives far too frequently leads to lives being lost, lives being ruined.
"I think you would have taken comfort knowing that you were armed with a knife."
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.