Attacker 'deserves better chance at life' - victim

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The pensioner bashed by a teenager jailed for eight years says prison will only make him worse, and he deserves a better chance at life.

Maurangi Pere, 19, was jailed in the Manukau District Court yesterday for eight years and 10 months for the brutal attack on 85-year-old Eric Brady and the knifepoint theft of a car from 68-year-old Limaono Kingi.

Speaking from his Auckland home today to Stuff.co.nz, Mr Brady said Pere had shown no remorse for the attack and jail was just a place he would build up more anger and aggression - to be unleashed when he is set free.

"I hope that he comes out of it better, but I've got serious doubts," said Mr Brady.

More was needed to try and turn Pere around.

He said prisons needed to be reformed so that instead of just locking people up they tried to teach work skills and gave back a sense of pride.

"They have got no respect for themselves or for anyone else," he said of youths.

"When you look at the likes of [William] Bell [the Panmure RSA attacker] nothing on this earth would do anything for him, he's past redemption.

"But this fellow Pere, there is a faint hope."

"I do feel sorry in a way for him with his upbringing. He's been kicked around from pillar to post."

He said the country needed to look deep and hard at itself as violence by young people was getting worse - "its generational," he said.

Alongside better programmes to turn young offenders around, there was a need for more discipline at home and basic parenting skills to be taught - too many parents were letting their children down.

The Kahui twins, Chris and Cruz, who died having been abused home in south Auckland - with no one yet convicted of their killing - was a case which should have shocked the nation into action, he said.

Mr Brady said he still thinks about that night when he was beaten and it has left him afraid of future violence.

"When I walk down the road and someone looks at me, I think 'oh, you're going to have a go.'"

His lower jaw still has plates in it and he now is forced to use a walking stick. He keeps that stick by his bedside each night, a slender thread of hope and reassurance that if someone breaks in he can again fend them off.

It was also revealed at yesterday's sentencing that just days before attacking Mr Brady, Pere had held up South Auckland health care worker Limaono Kingi, who was awarded a QSM for his work within the community, at knife point.

When he attacked Mr Brady, Pere was on bail for the attack on Mr Kingi.

Mr Kingi was doing paperwork in his car when he was approached by Pere in Papatoetoe.

They chatted about the weather before Pere ordered him out of the car at knifepoint and drove off.

Pere admitted charges including causing grievous bodily harm and being armed with a knife.

At yesterday's sentencing crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb had asked for a jail term of 10 to 12 years for the attack on Mr Brady which he said had "all the hallmarks of a home invasion-type offence".

Judge Charles Blackie said he would serve a minimum of four years for the cowardly attack Mr Brady who had risked his own life to protect him and the rest of the country in World War 2.

Mr Kingi said Pere would offend again and should have been given the maximum sentence, The New Zealand Herald reported.

- © Fairfax NZ News