Warning: This story contains details that may disturb some readers.
A Kiwi man faces more than a decade behind bars for his role in a grisly homicide that saw two bodies stuffed into a toolbox and submerged in a dam in Australia four years ago.
Tepuna Tupuna Mariri is one of eight people charged over the deaths of drug dealers Iuliana Trascaru and Cory Breton in Queensland in January 2016.
He was found guilty of manslaughter for his role, and was one of eight people charged in relation to the crime.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison at the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday. In sentencing Mariri, Justice David Boddice described his actions as "cold, continuous and callous".
"You showed no respect for either victim as human beings," he said.
"You must receive a sentence that reflects additional criminality. In my view, these crimes justify a sentence as high as 13 years' imprisonment."
Mariri had previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, instead pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter and two counts of torture.
While he wasn't present when a toolbox containing the bodies of Breton and Triscaru was dumped in the dam, the court was told he played an "active" role in torturing the pair in a private property, 9 News reports.
It's understood he sat on the toolbox to stop the pair escaping, ordered doors and windows to be shut to stop their screams alerting neighbours, and distracted neighbours when they enquired about what was happening.
He also instructed others to clean the apartment and stopped witnesses from calling emergency services, the court heard.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Triscaru's mother said Mariri "destroyed my family".
"I miss her so much. Words can't describe how I feel because you did this to her, to all of us. Before everything unfolded you instructed to close the windows and doors," she wrote.
"Neighbours heard kicking and screaming while you took the box to the ute. You distracted them, ensuring them all was good, that nothing serious was going on.
"It must be a very cruel depraved mind… By doing what you did you opened my eyes to evil of the worst kind."
