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Offender Database Janine Rongonui

Janine Waiwera Rongonui

Alias

.

Offences

Killed a Cambodian refuge in Miramar, Wellington in June 1998

Victims

Pheap Im

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1965

Current Location

At large in Normanby, South Taranaki

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to "life" imprisonment in March 1999
Sentenced to 12 years in October 1999 after a successful appeal to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter
Sentence reduced by 18 months on appeal
Paroled under residential restrictions and in the care of a mental health provider July 2008

Background
Court of Appeal decisions here (1999) and here (2001)
Parole Board decision documented here

From Dominion Post story March 2005
Janine Waiwera Rongonui, formerly of Miramar, Wellington, will appear before the Parole Board next month for the terms of her release to be set. Rongonui, 40, savagely stabbed her neighbour, Cambodian refugee Pheap Im, more than 150 times in her Miramar flat in June 1998. She finished off the attack by kicking her victim to check she was dead.

In 2000 she was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter, reduced by 18 months on appeal, which after serving the usual mandatory two-thirds of the sentence amounted to seven years behind bars. Rongonui turned on Mrs Im after the mother of three refused to look after her children while she sorted out a dispute with welfare authorities over their care. Mrs Im was also tortured to force her to divulge her ATM card number.

A friend of the dead woman said news of Rongonui's pending release brought back frightening memories of the attack. "The actual brutality of the crime and the fact that afterward she (Rongonui) went and stole from her, shows how it was an absolutely appalling crime...seven years in prison is not very long at all." Under the Criminal Justice Act 1985 - the law in place at the time of the attack - Rongonui, who was classed as a serious violent offender and was given a fixed term of imprisonment, is required to be released after serving two-thirds of her sentence.

A Parole Board spokesman said because she had already served two years and two months while awaiting trial on remand, Rongonui would have completed her seven years in July

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Corrections and Additional Information
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