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Levi Haami was a cheeky, handsome young man whose smile lit up rooms as he walked in, his family say.
A teenager who fatally punched another teen in a supermarket car park and made a rap song bragging about it is appealing his jail term.
Levi Haami, 18, died on December 5, 2021, a day after Armani Williams punched him at a Countdown supermarket car park in Christchurch.
Williams, 17, initially faced a charge of murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court at Christchurch in May last year. He was sentenced to three years in Christchurch Men’s Prison in August.
Williams filed a notice of appeal against his sentence, the Court of Appeal confirmed to Stuff on Thursday. He will argue the sentence was manifestly excessive, and the judge made an error during sentencing.
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His appeal will be heard at the Court of Appeal in Wellington in May.
In a rap song, Williams bragged about Haami’s death on the phone to an associate from Te Puna Wai youth justice facility while awaiting his sentencing. The associate recorded the rap and posted it to Williams’ Instagram, the court heard during Williams’ sentencing last year.
Justice Gerald Nation said it caused Haami’s family “considerable pain”.
A friend of Haami told the court at the time he was a “teddy bear” with no bad bone in his body.
Alden Williams/Stuff
Justice Gerald Nation sentenced Armani Williams to three years imprisonment in August last year. (File photo).
According to the summary of facts, Williams and Haami had met at least once previously.
About 2am on December 4, Haami was with friends in the car park at Countdown in Moorhouse Ave.
Haami walked to some clothing bins in the corner of the car park to urinate.
About the same time, a car was driving east on Moorhouse Ave. Williams was hanging out of the right rear side.
Haami said to Williams: “Why are you looking at my dick?”
The driver did a U-turn, entered the car park, and a “visibly agitated” Williams got out.
He “forcefully punched” Haami in the side of the mouth, causing him to fall backwards, with the back of his head striking the ground.
Haami suffered “catastrophic brain injuries”. He was taken to Christchurch Hospital and placed on life support. It was later turned off and he died the following day.
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