Two get life sentence

Press, 20 November 1987, Page 3

Two get life sentence

PA Napier Two men were yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a young woman, aged 16, whose naked and beaten body was found on a riverbank near Napier on June 19.

In a High Court trial which began at Napier on Monday, Sam Te Hei, aged 25, and Tad Kotahi Sullivan, aged 19, both of Bay View, had denied murdering Colleen Karen Burrows.

A jury retired yesterday

at 11.30 a.m. and took just over five hours to reach its verdict. Neither of the accused, their relatives or Mongrel Mob associates in the courtroom showed any emotion as the sentence was handed down. During the trial the Court was told that the body of Miss Burrows was found lying in a pool of blood about 8 a.m. on June 19. She had suffered a severe beating and massive head injuries. The Crown said the two

accused took Miss Burrows to the Tutaekuri riverbank with the intention of having sex with her.

The Crown prosecutor, Mr Geoff Rea, alleged that when she refused she was knocked to the ground and kicked with steel-capped boots for almost an hour. Defence counsel, Mr Ross Burns, for Sullivan, and Mr Russell Fairbrother, for Te Hei, argued that there had been no murderous intent.