[Image: http://images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images/news2010/crime-nz/you_0406_2.jpg]
Published: 10:34AM Friday June 04, 2010
Source: NZPA
The family of an elderly Chinese woman who was hit, kicked and stomped on during a robbery of her Manurewa home say they are happy her killer has been jailed for life, with a minimum non-parole term of 20 years.
Olinale Ah You, 30, was sentenced by Justice Edwin Wylie at the High Court in Auckland, after he was found guilty by a jury in April of murdering 80-year-old Yan Ping Yang.
Speaking on behalf of the Yang family outside court, Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said they were very pleased with the sentence.
"There are many more victims than just Mrs Yang here. There's the extended family, the grandchildren, who have all lost a much loved grandmother.
"They're happy that this man won't be able to do this to anyone else for a long time."
Gutry said the family would hopefully be able to move on with their lives.
"This was an elderly woman who was killed in her own home in a place where she should have felt safe," Gutry said.
"He's now going to spend a minimum of... 20 years in prison and we're very pleased with that.
"There was serious violence involved. She was stomped on, she was kicked, he tried to put her in a wardrobe, and she died as a result of all of that.
"It was a pretty harrowing offence and a lot of effort was put in to make sure we found the person responsible for it.
Sentencing Ah You, Justice Wylie told him the Yang family had been left traumatised by his senseless actions.
"Your attack on Mrs Yang was callous and brutal and you must be held accountable.
"You murdered a defenceless woman in her own home and your behaviour cannot be tolerated."
Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery read out a victim impact statement from Yang's granddaughter Lilly Su, who spoke of a kind, friendly and caring person, who was a much-loved and respected member of the family.
"The thought of what happened to our dearly loved grandmother has deeply traumatised our family. We will never talk to her or see her again. She meant a lot to our family and she influenced us in many ways," the statement read.
Denise Wallwork, defending Ah You, apologised to the Yang family on his behalf.
He admitted it was his fault and he accepted his apology would not change anything, she said.
Ah You has a wife and two daughters, aged four and five, who watched the sentencing from the back of the court.
"Despite this, he still gets into trouble time and time again. He understands he will be in prison for a very long time," Wallwork said.
Ah You is already serving a 12 year prison sentence for two charges of aggravated robbery and three further robberies. He has a string of previous convictions for violent crimes, and has spent time in jail in Australia.
Yang died three days after she was attacked at her home in Saralee Drive on June 11, 2008.
Ah You admitted at the beginning of his six-day trial that he attacked Mrs Yang but said he was guilty of manslaughter.
But the jury of six men and six women decided he was guilty of murder.
Some of the evidence of the attack came from a statement Yang made to police two days before she died.
In the attack Yang suffered extensive bruising to her head and face, extensive haemorrhaging in her skull, bruising in her chest, rib fractures on both sides, a fracture to her neck, and extensive bruising to her arms and legs.
Man sentenced for murder of elderly Chinese woman in Manurewa | NATIONAL News
if you hate someone, they should receive maximum not minimum...
besides
What ever happened to life sentence or death row?
The cat is interested in this because this person has a chance of getting out of prison before he dies of old age.