A man who beat a teenager to death in central Auckland has been jailed for seven years.
Myron Felise, 30, attacked Eli Holtz, 18, in January last year after the teenager shot him with a water pellet.
Felise was standing outside a bar when Mr Holtz - a passenger in a passing car - fired at him, hitting him in the back. Felise dragged Holtz out of the vehicle and punched him six times, his sister Chanelle Armstrong said at his sentencing on Thursday.
The teenager died the night after the attack.
Felise pleaded guilty to manslaughter in November. He'll serve a minimum three years and six months behind bars.
"You appointed yourself judge, jury and executioner that night," said Ms Armstrong. "He had just started getting things right, just beginning to realise his dreams, and you took that from him."
After he pleaded guilty, it was revealed Felise had previously been charged with murdering a liquor store owner in 2008, but was found not guilty. He was however found guilty of aggravated robbery.
"I'm so angry Myron," Mr Holtz' birth mother Lorr Ramage told the court. "You stole my only child. He was just beginning to grow up."
Police said Mr Holtz' death was a tragedy.
"This was a shocking and senseless attack with devastating consequences," said Det Snr Sgt Kathy Bostock.
"Our deepest sympathies are with Eli’s family."
Newshub.
