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Offender Databases Nicholas Kawana

Nicholas Michael Kawana

Alias

.

Offences

Murder of Mark Waihape in Nightcaps, Southland in December 2006

Victims

Mark Waihape

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1964

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to life (ten years) in November 2007
Eligible for parole from December 2016

Background
From a Southland Times story 03/11/2007
CONVICTED murderer Nicholas Kawana was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years yesterday for the slaying of Tuatapere man Mark Waihape. Kawana, 43, shot Mr Waihape at close range with a single-barrel shotgun at Nightcaps on December 13. He claimed he shot Mr Waihape in self-defence after Mr Waihape charged at him brandishing a large hunting knife but the claim was discounted by a jury, which found him guilty of murder in September. Sitting silently in the dock at the High Court in Invercargill, Kawana remained impassive throughout the hour-long sentencing, as did the 15 or so people gathered in the public gallery.

Kawana's defence lawyer Bill Dawkins called on Justice Fogarty to dispense with statutory requirements to sentence his client to life imprisonment, and opt for a lesser sentence. The case was unusual and therefore worthy of special consideration for sentence, he said. While it was indisputable that Kawana had been reckless, he had been under attack, Mr Dawkins said. "He was reckless ... he was under attack ... and he had his boy behind him."...There was something real happening here, which no doubt influenced him to make the wrong call," Mr Dawkins said.

However, Crown solicitor Mary-Jane Thomas rejected Mr Dawkins' claim that the case was special. "This is a case where two men are involved in a violent confrontation and where the jury has found that the accused did not act in self-defence," she said. Justice Fogarty agreed with the Crown and said sentencing Kawana to the mandatory term would not be manifestly unjust. Kawana had to be sentenced based on the verdict of the jury, and the jury had clearly determined that at some stage Kawana had had murderous intent, he said. Kawana was also sentenced to concurrent one month jail terms for cultivation of cannabis and possession of a firearm without a licence.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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