A teenage girl who admitted her part in murdering a retired Bay of Plenty teacher has had her jail term cut by seven years after being sentenced for the second time.
Lori-Lea Waiora Te Wini, 17, originally jailed for 17 years, was sentenced to a minimum non-parole period of 10 years in the High Court at Rotorua on Friday for the 2008 murder of 79-year-old John Rowe.
Mr Rowe was found dead at his Opotiki home. He had been viciously beaten with his own sticks - one a heavy walking stick.
Te Wini, who was 14 at the time of the attack, was convicted of murder in 2009 and sentenced to a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
But the Court of Appeal in 2011 quashed the conviction and granted her a retrial.
Four days before her retrial was set to begin in May this year she pleaded guilty.
In sentencing Te Wini on Friday, Justice Mark Woolford described her attack on Mr Rowe as "brutal and murderous".
Te Wini and her cousin Courtney Churchward, then 16, had gone into the bedroom of the man described by the judge as vulnerable, elderly, frail and defenceless, and attacked him in his bed.
They left him unconscious and stole his wallet and car keys.
Churchward was originally jailed for at least 17 years after being found guilty of murder. That was later reduced to 13 years on appeal but the Court of Appeal refused to overturn her conviction.
Te Wini's lawyer Elizabeth Hall said her client had been abused while growing up and suffered significant mental problems.
However, since being in prison she had stopped using cannabis and other substances.
Throughout sentencing Mr Rowe's daughter, Wendy, clutched a photograph of her late father, as she did throughout the original 2009 trial.
Outside the court she said the reduced sentence was disappointing. Other family members were too upset to comment.
Te Wini's brother, Delatour Te Wini, said he was pleased his sister's sentence was reduced.
He also defended his sister's upbringing saying their mother had done her best for her by providing the necessary boundaries.
Because Te Wini has already been in jail for more than three years she will be eligible to be considered for parole in 2019.
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