Prison for Upper Hutt party murder

Prison for Upper Hutt party murder

A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for the fatal stabbing of an Upper Hutt mother-of-two.

Roy Charles Mataki stabbed Sherena Williams in the neck with a military style knife after she came to the defence of her brother, who had been cut on the arm in an altercation with Mataki at a party in March last year.

Mataki was previously found not guilty of wounding Damien Williams.

He was given a minimum non-parole period of 10 years for the murder of Sherena Williams, who has two young daughters.

There was a very large family presence in the Wellington High Court for the sentencing, as well as a large police presence.

Williams' sister Anita Quin gave an emotional victim impact statement before the sentence was handed down, saying she has been left broken by her sister's death.

"She will never get a chance to see her daughters grow into women," she said.

Justice David Collins said a mitigating factor was the fact that Mataki was carrying an inherently dangerous weapon that he carried for self defence.

Abuse was hurled at Mataki as he was taken away from the dock.

Newshub.