Slain man's family offers peace to killer

In an extraordinary show of goodwill, the family of a deceased Far North man is willing to take care of the wife and children of the man who killed him while he serves his time in prison.

Tears flowed as Gene Autrey Wright, 32, was sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday to four years and three months in prison for the death of his uncle, Sonny Werahiko Taylor, in July, 2011. Wright was found guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Taylor by a high court jury in February.

The beatings Mr Taylor received were as a result of a dispute over buildings going up on a slice of multiple-owned Maori land at the end of Oturu Block Rd, north of Kaitaia.

A day after Mr Taylor took a chainsaw to try and chop the legs off a pataka - an elevated food store - Gene Wright's grandfather, John Wright, had built near his home, Gene Wright went to the property to sort the matter out and ended up assaulting the deceased.

In court, Mr Taylor's family said they felt for Wright, who apologised to them from the dock and hoped for some sort of a healing process between their whanau.

Wright said his lawyer advised him to defend the charge based on the pathology report but he fully accepted the jury's verdict.

His wife could not make it to court as she had just given birth.

Outside court, Mr Taylor's younger brother, Werahiko Ivan Taylor, made an impassioned plea for the culture of violence around families to stop.

"Violence doesn't solve issues, it makes them. People's attitude towards one another needs to change," he said.

Werahiko Taylor said his family was relieved at the conclusion of the case but felt for Gene Wright, his wife and six children.

He said his family had opened its doors to them if they wished to keep in touch.

His siblings, Sam and Cheryl Taylor, read their victim statements in court and lamented how much they loved and missed their brother.

Crown prosecutor Bernadette O'Connor said aggravating features of Wright's offending involved the extent of violence, unlawful entry into a house, premeditation and Mr Taylor's vulnerability, being smaller in size.

Wright's lawyer, Doug Blaikie, said his client had shown remorse, was a young man with a difficult past but was a strong family man, and had minimal previous convictions.

Judge Sarah Katz said no penalty could reflect the loss of a life or bring Mr Taylor back.

A long-standing land dispute, she said, did not justify Wright's actions.

She said it was unacceptable for people to take the law into their own hands. Despite previous convictions for drugs and dishonesty offending, Wright had matured as a responsible father and a husband in the last five years, the judge said. She set a starting point of five years but settled at an end sentence of four years and three months.