R v Eastham

[2013] NZHC 2792

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

CRI 2012-091-2986 [2013] NZHC 2792

THE QUEEN

v

TRISTIM LEE EASTHAM

Hearing:                   24 October 2013

Counsel:                  P K Feltham for Crown

I M Antunovic and C Parkin for Accused

Sentence:                 24 October 2013

SENTENCE OF RONALD YOUNG J

[1]      Before I sentence you Mr Eastham I want to just say some things to those who have come here today to be present at this sentencing.  This is the second time this year that this Court has sentenced a young man for killing another young man from this area.  The background information that I have been able to read over those sentencings  shows  a  grossly  excessive  drinking  and  violent  culture  amongst  a number of young men.  Something is wrong in the community as small as this when this happens.

[2]      Other serious assaults, maybe other killings are going to occur if this carries on.  Already the lives of many young men have been ruined by these events.  Two have died and two, after today, will have gone to prison for lengthy periods. And the

lives of many members of their families and friends have been permanently scared.

R v EASTHAM [2013] NZHC 2792 [24 October 2013]

[3]      Time and again I have read the comment “someone should do something to stop this”.  Well, there is no one, no one else who will do anything to stop this other than the community to which you all belong.

[4]      Perhaps those families who have suffered these terrible tragedies can take the lead in this.  What is needed, I suggest, is action not talk.  I am sure that the police and the other social agencies in the area will be only too prepared to be part of real action to stop this culture of alcohol and violence affecting your young people.

[5]      Mr Eastham.  You have pleaded guilty to manslaughter.   The events which gave rise to the killing of Shaun Strongman-Lintern occurred on 14 September 2012 within the Kapiti lights area in Paraparaumu.

[6]      You and others it seems went to an outdoor smoking area at about half past

10 within the bar.  About half an hour later Mr Strongman-Lintern came in.  He also went out to the smoking area with a group of friends who had gathered there.  An associate then became involved in an altercation with you.

[7]      Mr Strongman-Lintern then seems to have approached you and the two of you became involved in a fight where punches were exchanged.  Both of you were rejected from the area by the security staff.  You were involved in another fight with an associate of the deceased.   Seeing that fighting it seems Mr Strongman-Lintern became involved as well.   Eventually the fight ended and you and your associates went back inside the bar and continued drinking.

[8]      Sometime   later    you    decided   to    leave    and    got    into    a   vehicle. Mr Strongman-Lintern approached the vehicle and pointed through the window at you.  He then walked around to the front of that vehicle.  You left the car.  You had a homemade knife that you had previously fashioned out of a piece of metal.  It was extremely sharp.

[9]      Another fight between you and Mr Strongman-Lintern began.  You ended up on the ground and you were punched a number of times in the head by him.  You then used your homemade knife to stab him on the left side of the chest.   You

stabbed him with such force that the knife pierced his rib and entered his heart causing a fatal injury.

[10]     A short while later he collapsed.   His health deteriorated rapidly.   He was treated by ambulance staff but he died there.  In the meantime you had hidden your knife under the car seat after trying to alter its appearance.

[11]     The pre-sentence report says that you place blame for the events of that night on the victim because you say he started many of the arguments and violence that evening.  You have repeatedly said that the main fault was Mr Strongman-Lintern’s and you say that he “ripped” you out of the van before the last fight began.

[12]     The probation officer thought that you did not have any real empathy for the victim.  The pre-sentence report notes that you have a harmful pattern of alcohol use. You do have a previous history of criminal convictions but you have never been sent to prison before.  Many of the convictions are nuisance type offending but some of them do involve an edge of violence including contravening  a protection order, threatening behaviour and more directly an assault some years ago.

[13]     I    want    to    acknowledge    the    victim’s    family,    the    family    of Mr Strongman-Lintern.   I want to acknowledge the dignity that they have shown today. And I want to acknowledge the terrible effect that this loss has had on them.

[14]     I have read the victim impact statements  from family and friends.   And Mrs Craig, Mr Strongman-Lintern’s mother, has spoken of the enormous anguish the family have suffered as a result of her son’s death.

[15]     I want to repeat some of the words that she has said, Mr Eastham, so that they do ring in your ears.  She has said that she has travelled to many locations looking for some sort of peace.  She said:

everywhere I went I still could not assuage the deep grief that seemed to resonate to my very core. At times I could actually feel myself shaking.  It’s a terrible thing to know you will never see someone again.   When that person is your son every fibre of your being seems to rally against that.

[16]     The Crown say that I should start with a sentence of seven to eight years’ imprisonment which would include some allowance for the circumstances of the killing and Mr Strongman-Lintern’s part in the fighting that evening.   They then accept a discount for your guilty plea should be given.

[17]     They in particular mention that while this was not a premeditated killing, it was not an impulsive reaction to an unexpected event. You had ample opportunity to leave the area and there was no reason for you to take a knife with you when you left the van.

[18]     They stress that you caused the death of a young man by the use of a weapon and a weapon that had been deliberately fashioned to have a tapered double sided blade and was extremely sharp.  They also say that I should take into account your attempt  to  conceal  that  evidence  afterwards.    They  accept,  as  I  have  said  in mitigation that Mr Strongman-Lintern was assaulting you at the time, punching you before you stabbed him.

[19]     The Crown also say that I should give an uplift for your previous convictions and that the late guilty plea should result in a deduction of no more than 10 per cent.

[20]     I  have  read  your  counsel  submissions  and  I  have  read  the  number  of references given and I take those into account.  He stresses that night that you were subject to violence and that at the time you stabbed Mr Strongman-Lintern you were receiving a number of punches to the face and ultimately as a result of that night’s events you had significant bruising to both eyes and a fractured nose.

[21]     He points out that it was Mr Strongman-Lintern who approached you in the van seeking another fight and that it was in that context that you stabbed him.  He stresses that the knife was used in your work but that by your plea you accept that the   reaction,   in   the   circumstances,   was   excessive,   although   it   was   clear Mr Strongman-Lintern was getting the better of you in the violent incident.  He says your judgment would have been affected by the beating you were getting at the time. He says there should be no increase for your past convictions and that you should get a substantial deduction for your guilty plea.

[22]     It is not possible to know now exactly why you had the knife in the van that evening.  But in the end I do not think that is especially relevant.  The relevant point is that you took the knife with you when you left the van.   Because it had been sharpened for whatever purpose with a double edge and a sharp point, you would have known that it was particularly dangerous.

[23]     I accept that you used the knife in circumstances where you were being assaulted by Mr Strongman-Lintern who was getting the better of you.   But there could be no basis as your plea illustrated for claiming that this was reasonable self defence.  It was a gross overreaction and now a young man is dead and you face the prospect of significant imprisonment.

[24]     As the probation officer noted you are a young man who has a partner with two young children.  It is hard to understand frankly why you would even be at this bar in Paraparaumu when you had the responsibilities of a family.  It is difficult to understand why you, as a father, would be drinking, as the probation report notes, each night after work and up to a dozen beers each weekend as well as the use of cannabis on a regular basis, if you were indeed to be a good father to those children.

[25]     You  have  made  comments  about  Mr Strongman-Lintern’s  propensity  for violence.  But of course you have previous convictions that show a similar pattern.  I accept, as I have said, that they are not of the most serious kind but they do involve aggressive action by you.  And of course in the end it was you who used a knife to kill this young man.

[26]     Those who are here today will understand that no sentence I can impose at all is intended to illustrate what a life is worth.

[27]    I am satisfied that the proper starting point here is one of seven years’ imprisonment.  That takes into account Mr Strongman-Lintern actions in assaulting you but also takes into account your actions and the use of a weapon.   I am not prepared to increase that sentence for your past convictions.  I do not consider they warrant them.

[28]     As to your plea of guilty there is a wide divergence of views; the Crown say you should have no more than 10 per cent; your counsel a full 25 per cent deduction.

[29]     As I understand the position you offered to plead guilty for the first time to manslaughter in a formal way in August 2013, almost a year after you were first charged.  When the Crown agreed to that reduction you pleaded guilty immediately. The fact that the Crown were prepared to reduce the charge to one of manslaughter must be taken into account.   You have had the advantage of that reduction.   I consider a deduction of 15 per cent is appropriate for your guilty plea.

[30]     The start  sentence of  seven  years’ imprisonment  is  therefore reduced  by

13 months to five years, 11 months’ imprisonment.  I agree that a minimum sentence is required. The courts have an obligation to clearly state that the carrying and use of a knife in public will result in denunciation  and deterrent  sentences.    I set  the minimum period at approximately half.

[31]     You   are   formally   sentenced,   therefore,   to   five   years,   11   months’ imprisonment for manslaughter with a minimum period of imprisonment of two years and 11 months.

[32]     Stand down.

Ronald Young J

Solicitors:

Luke Cunningham & Clere, Wellington
Antunovic Law, Wellington