Man jailed for manslaughter

SORRY: Paul Richards in the High Court at Invercargill yesterday.

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An insurance broker broke down and apologised to his victim's family after he was sentenced to two years' jail for manslaughter in the High Court at Invercargill yesterday.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," were the last words Paul Richards said to the family of his victim when he was sentenced.

Richards, 34, appeared before Justice Lester Chisholm on the charge for delivering the fatal blow to Queenstown man Mark James Smith, 47, at a Queenstown taxi stand on November 17.

Richards sat sobbing in the dock for the duration of the sentencing, in a courtroom filled with his supporters – some who had travelled from his native United Kingdom – and friends and family of Mr Smith.

Justice Chisholm said the victim impact statements expressed the dreadful effect Mr Smith's death had on his family.

He understood the family's wishes for Richards to be given the heaviest available penalty provided by law, he said.

"Nothing I can say or do today can go any distance to compensate a life. Lives are without value."

But Richards' actions were out of character and he was remorseful, Justice Chisholm said.

"So how would this offending have occurred? Regrettably, it is attributable to one thing – alcohol."

He asked when the message would ever get through to the public that too much alcohol could lead to mindless aggression.

Crown prosecutor John Young said Mr Smith was killed by the second of two blows after an altercation at the taxi stand.

The victim retreated but could not evade Richards' advances, he said.

"He was much smaller and older than the prisoner and in a vulnerable position."

Richards had cannabis in his system and a blood alcohol level of 187mg several hours after the incident, he said.

An innocent man's death in an act of street thuggery must be followed by a jail sentence, he said.

Earlier, Mr Smith's 20-year-old son Callum, reading from his victim impact statement, called Richards a dark, hollow, shell of a man. Richards would never truly understand the pain he had inflicted on his family, he said.

Mr Smith's wife Fiona said her family had been impacted socially, emotionally and financially with the death of her husband.

"We have been given a life sentence and we didn't do anything wrong. If I cry I might never stop."

Anyone who killed another should be locked up for as long as the justice system could allow, she said.

Defence lawyer Bill Dawkins said no-one escaped the harmful effects of Richards' actions.

Richards was solely to blame; he was entirely accountable, he said.

Richards pleaded guilty at the earliest available opportunity, 34 days after the death of Mr Smith, he said.

Mr Dawkins said Richards' parents offered to pay $50,000, half their life savings, to the Smith family. That was not putting a price tag on a life but an offer of assistance in a more tangible way than words, he said.

Richards also vowed never to return to Queenstown again and would move back to the United Kingdom after his sentence ended, he said.

From a starting point of four years' jail, mitigating factors including no prior convictions, an early guilty plea and the offer of financial retribution, Justice Chisholm arrived at a sentence of two years' jail, without leave to apply for home detention.

He also accepted Richards' offer to pay $50,000 reparation to the Smith family.

- © Fairfax NZ News