It is rare for people to kill more than once, but when they do, public pressure increases for bringing back capital punishment. At least 14 people with previous convictions for murder or manslaughter have killed again in New Zealand.
David Wayne Tamihere
David Wayne Tamihere killed Auckland stripper Mary Barcham in 1972 by hitting her on the head with an air rifle, and was convicted of manslaughter. Tamihere was convicted of murdering Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglen on the Coromandel Peninsula in 1989, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Dennis Luke and Rufus Marsh
In 1975 Dennis Luke and Rufus Marsh were convicted of kicking a 70-year-old pensioner, Taffy Williamson, to death in Wellington. Luke was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Marsh was given seven years for manslaughter. In 1986, in a home invasion, Marsh beat and stabbed Diane Miller to death in her Wellington flat. Convicted of murder, he died in prison in 2010.
Luke also killed again. In 1992, while on parole for the Williamson murder, Luke and three Black Power associates murdered Crown witness Christopher Crean – who was to testify against three of them – in New Plymouth. Luke was sentenced to a second life term, with a 14-year minimum. In 2016 he remained in prison.
Graeme Burton
Graeme Burton stabbed lighting technician Neville Anderson to death outside a Wellington nightclub in 1992 and was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. He was paroled in mid-2006. In January 2007 he murdered quad-biker Karl Kuchenbecker, and wounded Karl Holmes, Jeremy Simpson and Kate Rea in a random shooting. Burton received a life sentence with a 26-year non-parole period.
Convictions overturned
In 1972 Dean Wickliffe was convicted of shooting Wellington jeweller Paul Miet during a robbery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, but on appeal in 1986 the conviction was reduced to manslaughter. Wickliffe was re-sentenced to life imprisonment but was paroled the next year. In 1997 he was convicted of shooting gang member Richard Bluett in 1996, and for a second time he received a life sentence for murder. Following an appeal, he was re-tried and acquitted in 1999.
William Johansson
William Johansson and seven other men beat Benjamin Halaholo to death in 1995. Convicted of manslaughter, Johansson received a two-year suspended sentence and 10 months’ periodic detention. In 2002 he masterminded a robbery spree in Auckland during which pizza worker Marcus Doig and bank teller John Vaughan were fatally shot. Convicted of murder, Johansson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 23-year minimum sentence.
Malcolm Francis
Malcolm Francis killed his wife, Janet, in their Hastings home in 1983 and received a four-year sentence for manslaughter. In 2001 he killed his former partner, Wathanak Tea. Convicted of manslaughter, he was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 years.