Jason Karl Blackler (49) was jailed for seven years in April 2018 before the High Court at Dunedin after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 66-year-old Alan James Fahey.
Yesterday he appeared in the Court of Appeal - sitting in Dunedin - to appeal that sentence.
His counsel, James Rapley QC, argued the penalty imposed by Justice Helen Dunningham, which included a minimum non-parole period of three and a-half years, was manifestly excessive.
Members of Mr Fahey's family were back in the same courtroom yesterday where last year they heard grisly details of the man's death.
"We were hoping it was all over,'' Mr Fahey's niece, Ngarita Unahi, said.
The victim's cousin, Janeen Beattie, fought back tears after reliving the tragedy again.
"[Alan] had a heart of gold. He didn't deserve it,'' she said.
"No matter how long that a***-hole gets, we're the ones doing life, not him.''
Blackler had been living with Mr Fahey on October 25, 2016.
The pair had been drinking when the victim allegedly made an inappropriate comment about the man's terminally-ill sister.
Blackler claimed he blacked out through the ensuing violence, but it ended when he left the victim in a pool of his own blood and got a taxi to his partner's house.
Mr Rapley said Justice Dunningham fell into error by identifying five aggravating features of the offending:
- Extreme violence.
- Attacks to the head.
- Serious injury.
- Vulnerability of the victim.
- Abuse of trust.
Mr Rapley disputed the first factor, claiming there was little evidence of a prolonged beating.
"It's a spontaneous reaction, while intoxicated, to some level of provocation,'' he said.
He stressed Mr Fahey suffered from cardiac and respiratory problems and noted the pathologist had found the injuries alone would not have been life-threatening without the background health issues.
Blackler had additional time added to his prison term because of his criminal history, which included more than 150 convictions, and the fact he was serving release conditions following another spell behind bars at the time of the killing.
Mr Rapley said that uplift was not warranted because it was "low-level'' violence, but Justice Forrie Miller noted Blackler had stabbed a dog with hedge clippers in 2014.
The lawyer argued the adjusted sentence should be six years' imprisonment at the most.
Crown counsel Rebecca Thomson, though, said the original outcome was "entirely appropriate''.
She stressed Mr Fahey was older, frailer and smaller than Blackler, who "callously left him for dead on his living-room floor''.
Justice Dunningham inferred from the forensic evidence that blows had been struck while the victim was on the floor.
It was, Ms Thomson said, open to the judge to make such a finding of fact.
Justice Christine French said the court's decision would be reserved and likely to be released in the coming weeks.
