Could be out in three years

Here’s what 17 year old Lorenz Mekuli did:

He jumped on the bed and began strangling both the woman and the daughter.

In spite of their screams and pleading to be let go, he then dragged them both into the hallway where he forced the woman to remove her clothes.

Then, over a lengthy period, he raped the woman three times, punching her in the face, and forced her to perform oral sex on him while her daughter was forced to watch. He also sexually violated the woman and performed oral sex on her.

He raped her three times in front of her daughter, and strangled them both. She suffered a broken tooth and severe bruising to her face and genital area. The daughter had trouble breathing afterwards.

The maximum sentence for rape is 20 years. This is not the worst of the worst. But it’s pretty horrific. Surely he would get 15 years or so and a non parole period of say two thirds of that.

But no he got eight years and no non-parole period which means he is eligible for parole in two years and eight months!

Andrew Little says our sentences are too excessive and punitive. How is this an excessive sentence? It is the opposite.

Mekuli got a 35% discount for his youth and guilty plea. But his guilty plea was the day before trial which is the last possible time. I’ve seen other rulings where you get only a 10% discount for such a late guilty plea.

The victim is rightly upset:

“It is unbelievable he has only got eight years. It is not nearly enough,” she said.

“He almost killed me. He almost killed my daughter.”

She hoped judges dealing with such criminals in future would not be so lenient on offenders like Mekuli.

I hope so too. At least he has a first strike now, so if he offends again he won;’t get parole and a third strike would see him get 20 years no parole rather than possible parole is 32 months.