Families in the case of a man jailed for killing a teenage tagger in South Auckland are upset at the sentence imposed.
Bruce Emery, 50, stabbed the Pihema Cameron, 15, after catching him spray-painting graffiti on his garage in Manurewa just over a year ago.
Emery had been found not guilty of murder but was convicted of the manslaughter.
He was jailed for four years and three months on Friday.
During the trial, defence lawyer Chris Comesky argued that Emery was trying to protect himself and that what happened was an accident.
But the Crown said after years of having his property tagged, Emery lost control and was venting anger.
On Friday the Cameron family and their supporters grieved openly at the High Court in Auckland. In contrast, Emery's family sat quietly in seats next to them as the judge handed down the sentence.
The defence had asked for home detention. However, Justice Williams decided a jail term was appropriate.
"You did nothing to help him or get assistance for him either there, or when you returned home," he told Emery.
"You walked back to you home, washed the knife, secreted it and said nothing to your wife and family - and that remained the position until the police approached you some hours later."
Justice Williams accepted Emery's remorse, but ruled out home detention.
Sentence 'an insult'
Outside court, members of Pihema Cameron's family angrily told reporters that the sentence imposed was an insult.
His mother, Leanne Cameron, said she has to suffer every day without her son and has never felt so much hatred toward Emery for destroying her family "over a bit of paint".
Earlier, in an emotional victim impact statement, Ms Cameron said her son had been the man of the house.
Ms Cameron said she had to take out a personal loan to return to New Zealand from Australia. Both she and her son's father faced financial hardship over the cost of Pihema's funeral and have only this year managed to pay for a headstone for his grave.
The victim's grandfather, Brian Cameron, said the sentence was unfair and thought it would have been seven to 10 years at least. He said he is only glad the court rejected home detention.
Jail term not expected
Mr Comesky said the Emery family are distraught at the length of the jail term and are considering lodging an appeal.
He said the jail term was not expected and the family is struggling to cope.
Outside court, Mr Comesky appealed for people to donate money to the Emery family - less than an hour after the court was told of the Cameron family's financial difficulties.
