Up to 18 years jail for killers of Hamilton man who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide

Sao Yean survived the Cambodian genocide of the Khmer Rouge – born in the jungle between Cambodia and Thailand as his parents fled – but couldn’t survive a beating at the hands of Black Power members in Hamilton.

On Friday his killers, Anton Rite, Neha Grey, Daniel Payne, and Mihingarangi Rameka, were sentenced to life imprisonment at the High Court in Hamilton after being found guilty of murder, kidnapping and a raft of other charges.

Justice Tim Brewer told the four ahead of their sentencing that the only issue to be resolved would be the duration they spent in prison before becoming eligible for parole, all would be jailed for life, he said.

Yean’s murder came in the wake of a fatal drug overdose – and a subsequent hunt for revenge by gang members keen to find someone to blame for the death.

The hunt led to the kidnapping and assault of two others before Young was detained and beaten before dying from his injuries, Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam told the trial jury.

This was despite Yean, also known as Sao Young, not being at the New Year’s Eve party where the overdose happened, and having nothing to do with the powdered substance laced with heroin that killed one, and put four others in hospital.

McWilliam told the jury that Young’s decomposing body was found face down in a water trough in a disused cow shed at a Gordonton property a month after he was last seen on March 13, 2020.

The crown alleged he was murdered in the early hours of that morning, after a series of serious violent assaults.

McWilliam said it started after Rameka sourced drugs that were consumed along with alcohol at a New Year’s Eve party in Hamilton.

Four people had an adverse reaction to the drugs and were hospitalised, and Christopher Matatahi – a patched Black Power member – died.

After the overdose, the Crown says Rameka started to hunt for the person responsible to hold them to account.

After two others were assaulted, the group turned their attention to Young.

He was taken, assaulted and left with multiple head fractures – including to his jaw, eye socket, the base of his skull, and shoulder.

“These were caused by serious assaults with significant force by one or all of the four defendants at Byron Rd,” McWilliam said.

He said around 6.15am Young was then placed either dead or dying in the boot of a blue BMW before his body was left at the Gordonton property in a trough.

Justice Brewer said all four of Young’s murderers “lived in a world dominated by gangs, illegal drugs … part of every day life, violence and the threat of it was common”.

“You lived outside the law. That is what led you to commit the offences for which you have been convicted.”

He said Young’s family had provided a number of victim impact statements, but declined to read them to the court, so he would read some parts that described Young as a proud father and a loving and caring man.

Justice Brewer also revealed Young was “born during the Cambodian genocide, born in the jungle between Cambodia and Thailand. Born into the hardest time imaginable for [his] parents”.

“That is the man you murdered, and his family grieve deeply … the only possible sentence on the charge of murder is life imprisonment.”

He said the killing was brutal and callous, noting Young “likely suffered a great deal of pain”.

Sentencing all four to life imprisonment, he set a minimum period of imprisonment of 18-and-a-half years for Rameka, 18 years each for Grey and Payne, and 11 years for Rite.

“You might spend the rest of your life in prison,” Justice Brewer told the four.

“All the MPI [minimum period of imprisonment] does is put off when you can apply to be released on parole … the Parole Board will not release you on parole unless it is satisfied you pose no further risk to the community.”