A Christchurch man who beat a 36-year-old father of three to death before burning his body has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Last month a jury found Peter John Carroll guilty of murdering Marcus Tucker, whose body was found by Lake Ellesmere in Canterbury on Anzac Day last year.
Carroll, 53, admitted striking Mr Tucker with a car steering wheel lock, but maintained he never intended to kill him.
During sentencing at the High Court in Christchurch today, Justice Davidson said Carroll was involved in the drug world and the attack was cold-blooded and calculated.
"There is evidence of you callousness in the way you carried out the assault and when you took Mr Tucker's body away in the boot of the car before setting his body alight in a futile attempt to destroy evidence . . . you then simply dumped him on the side of the road."
Justice Davidson said Carroll spiralled down in a big way last year after losing his job as a builder and he turned to drug dealing.
He said Carroll had previously committed offences in Australia and New Zealand that primarily involved drugs and dishonesty.
"You are at the same time, a man who is able, intelligent and qualified to hold down building job and to gain qualifications . . . yet you lived in another world where the use of methamphetamine by you and your associates and of other drugs including synthetic cannabis, influenced your everyday living . . . and that other world is very clearly why you are here for sentencing today."
Justice Davidson said Marcus Tucker's family held no illusions around Mr Tuckers own lifestyle and associations.
"But the family expected Mr Tucker would pull himself together at some stage because he was a man who in his own way loved his children," Justice Davidson said.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Tucker's sister, Belinda Ross, said she hoped the pain Carroll had inflicted on her brother would haunt him every day.
Mr Tucker's mother, Robyn, said Carroll had taken Marcus away from his three children, aged 18, eight and five at the time he died.
"The pain and suffering has endured much longer because you didn't accept responsibility for murdering our son, you prolonged it, by making us sit through a trial looking at photos of our son, hearing evidence of his murder."
Robyn Tucker said Carroll had shown no remorse.
Justice Davidson told the court Carroll had said he would like to apologise to the Tucker family but he didn't expect to get that opportunity.
