A white supremacist convicted of killing Korean backpacker Jae Hyeon Kim was also responsible for the murder of a gay Westport man in 1999 and will now spend at least 25 years behind bars.
Hayden Brent McKenzie, 31, appeared for sentencing in the High Court at Wellington today after earlier admitting murdering Mr Kim at Charleston, near Westport, in September or October 2003.
McKenzie's name suppression was lifted today, but Justice Simon France made an order preventing publication of images of McKenzie or any description of his appearance.
The lifting of name suppression means it can now be revealed that in 2004 McKenzie was convicted and was four years into a life sentence for his part in the murder of James John (Janis) Bambrough, a homosexual who was killed in 1999 at Westport.
Justice France this afternoon sentenced McKenzie to another life sentence, this time with a non-parole period of 21 years.
The court heard from Mr Kim's mother, Leebun Kim, 60, who read victim impact statements from herself and her husband, which were translated in the court.
Breaking into tears and slamming the desk with her grief, she detailed the grief and pain the family had been through in not knowing where their son was, and to find out he had been murdered in a far away country.
"You heartless and cruel man, why did you kill such a precious life?"
She described Mr Kim as "a perfect son" who worked and studied hard and of whom the family was extremely proud.
The family had lived five years of pain without knowing of his fate.
Mr Kim had left home in February 2003 and they had been in constant touch with him until he disappeared in September that year.
He had come to New Zealand to study and improve his English
McKenzie's lawyer, Greg King, argued that if McKenzie were sentenced for 25 years it would be too much for two murders.
It was a senseless and needless death of a thoroughly decent young man.
"His death was random and he did nothing to provoke it.
"The ripples of his demise have travelled most forcefully to the other side of the globe, it has also been felt by New Zealand and New Zealanders. We are a nation that prides itself on how we welcome visitors."
McKenzie had led police to the exact location of Mr Kim's body after earlier evidence, Mr King said.
He had pleaded guilty at an early preliminary hearing and it may be that others may yet enter guilty pleas, he said.
If McKenzie had not helped police it was likely Mr Kim's remains might never have been found. Mr King said McKenzie had led police to the body in Mr Bambrough's case also.
McKenzie had shown genuine remorse, genuine cooperation and a genuine change of attitude and his physical involvement in both murders was a matter for debate, he said.
In his summing up, Justice France said Graeme Burton's murder convictions were a similar case in that two people were murdered on separate occasions.
Such cases were fortunately rare, he said.
In April 2007 Burton was given a sentence of preventive detention with a non-parole period of 26 years, after pleading guilty to all 11 charges arising from his rampage on Wainuiomata Hill in January, which left quad biker Karl Kuchenbecker dead and four others injured.
Justice France said McKenzie had been associated with a white supremacist group at the time of both killings, although in 2004 he had married and moved away from the lifestyle.
The reason for killing Mr Kim was that he was Asian and Mr Bambrough had died because he was gay. Both murders were the result of McKenzie's "abhorrent" neo-Nazi beliefs, Justice France said.
Two other people are still to face the courts over Mr Kim's death.
Nelson fisherman Shannon Flewellen will defend a murder charge in Greymouth in June next year. A second man, whose name and the nature of the charge he faces are suppressed, will also be on trial.
