New Zealand Teen Jailed for 15 Years for Murder

Wellington, March 10 – A 17-year-old New Zealand youth was sent to prison Wednesday for 15-and-a-half years for murdering a taxi driver who was a refugee from Afghanistan.

Shannon David Boyes-Warren, was 16 at the time he stabbed Abdulrahman Ikhtiari, 39 and a father of five, to death with a 13-centimetre knife, after an evening of drinking in the South Island city of Christchurch.

Judge Christine French gave Boyes-Warren the mandatory life sentence in the Christchurch High Court and imposed a non-parole period of 15-and-a-half years.

Randall Legion Wiremu Brown, 21, held Ikhtiari while his friend stabbed him. Brown admitted to manslaughter and was jailed for five-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.

The judge said Ikhtiari was a man of courage and honour who had spent four years apart from his family as he sought refugee status before they were reunited in New Zealand.

Posted by Vamban on Mar 10, 2010 @ 8:32 AM Filed under Australia, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry