A 19-year-old collapsed in tears in the dock and a family member abused the teen's lawyer and scuffled with court security staff as a six-year jail term was handed down in Christchurch District Court this afternoon.
The family member was not arrested but after shouting and shoving in the courtroom and the courthouse corridors he was ejected from the building.
He had shouted at lawyer Margaret Sewell over the handling of the case, and spoke in court to Moncello Shirley who sagged against the back of the dock as the jail term was announced by Judge Colin Doherty.
Shirley had been fighting back tears as he stood throughout the sentencing, but was crying at the end and had to be taken out of the dock and the courtroom by two prison officers.
He had been convicted last year of aggravated burglary. He went to a house armed with a baton, along with his brother who had some score to settle and is now serving a three-year term.
Later, while on bail, Shirley got into an argument at a party and stabbed a man in the chest, puncturing his lung and diaphragm and narrowly missing his heart and vital arteries.
At the trial last week, the jury took just 35 minutes to reject his defence of self-defence and convict him on a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Miss Sewell spoke at the sentencing of his sad upbringing. He was completely unable to explain his actions or motivations.
She believed he was difficult to engage in treatment or counselling because of the way he had been treated in the past.
Judge Doherty said imprisonment was inevitable, but noted that Shirley seemed to be suffering from head trauma. The probation service believed there was a clear need for psychological intervention.
He noted previous convictions for carrying knives and a propensity for violence.
He told Shirley: "You may be young but I have the view that you are totally amoral when it comes to matters of violence and I am not really sure why. I am afraid the rehabilitation you need will have to be rehabilitation within the prison system."
He imposed a series of concurrent sentences totalling six years jail for burglary with a weapon, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and unlawful possession of a knife.
Shirley was 17 when he committed the first of the offences.
