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Offender Databases David Vi

David Miro Leon Vi

Alias

.

Offences

Manslaughter of Glen Innes man Thomas Martin in April 2006, a totally unprovoked attack
Also robbery

Victims

Thomas Martin

Offender Affiliations

Penisimani Kulitapa
Daniel Houma
Timokoi Lanivia

Gang affiliations

Young East Side
Koe Ha

Age

Born 1991

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to five years in October 2008
Information on this offenders latest sentence would be greatly received!

Background
Youth Court decision here
From the Dominion Post, 8th October 2008
A teenager who helped to kill a man in a random and unprovoked attack has been jailed for five years, with a judge noting that he has a high risk of reoffending. David Vi was 14 when he and a gang of youths fatally bashed a stranger in an Auckland reserve in April 2006. Vi, now 17, stood passively in the dock in the High Court at Auckland yesterday as he was sentenced. He was originally charged with murder but cut a plea bargain, approved by the solicitor-general, allowing him to plead guilty to manslaughter shortly before his trial began in July.

Thomas Martin, a 37-year-old father of three, was walking home early on April 2, 2006, when he was set upon in Maybury Reserve in Glen Innes. He lost consciousness after being punched to the ground and kicked in the head and body. When he came to, he was given five seconds to get away but could not. He was struck again, falling and hitting his head on a concrete path, where he was left lying in the rain. He was not found till the following morning, and died in hospital several days later. Police said the community was aghast at the "unprovoked attack". Several of the youths then went on to attack security guard Malcolm Little as he patrolled Glen Innes shopping centre alone.

Mr Little was beaten and kicked and left badly bruised from the chest up, his voice box torn and unable to speak for three months. Vi was not charged in connection with that attack. Justice John Hansen said he accepted that Vi was following the lead of the older boys, but the kicks he delivered to Mr Martin's head were more likely to have caused injury than those to his chest. He also doubted whether his expressed remorse was genuine: "Your attitudes have not manifestly changed and your risk of reoffending is high."

He sentenced Vi to five years' jail, with a three-year "discount" because of his extreme youth, undisclosed events in his past and because he was not found to have been involved in the attack on Mr Little. Daniel Houma, who was 19 when he delivered the blow that led to Mr Martin hitting his head on the concrete path, was convicted of murder in April and jailed for at least 16 years, including a six-year, nine-month sentence for assaulting Mr Little. Co-offenders Penisimani Kulitapa, then 17, and Timakoi Lanivia, then 18, were found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 8 1/2 years and seven years respectively.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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