The man who murdered a woman on an Auckland bus will spend at least 12 years behind bars.
Kael Leona, 38, pleaded guilty to the murder of Bernice Louise Marychurch, who was killed in October 2024 while on the Number 74 bus in Onehunga.
She had been stabbed approximately 20 times.
There were nine other passengers on board.
Leona pleaded guilty to murder and strangulation at a hearing at the High Court at Auckland in February.
In the High Court on Wednesday, tearful statements were read from Marychurch's family.
A cousin, Mark Hiini, was first to speak before the court. He and other family members wore T-shirts with Marychurch's face, and words reading 'R.I.P'.
He said the family had ridden the very bus Marychurch was murdered on, seeing the bloodstains left on the seats.
"This disturbed me, disturbed my wairua, spirit, desecrating our whanau bloodline and whakapapa," he said.
Hiini spoke directly to Leona.
"He has traumatised lives who witnessed this and brought fear to thousands, perhaps millions, of people in our community, cities, and around the world."
Ultimately, Hiini forgave Leona for what he had done.
Family members wore a shirt in court in Bernice Marychurch's memory. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
"I cannot change the past, but I can use my words to bring life to him and to all who are listening," he said.
The next to speak was the victim's sister, Larna.
She spoke about the loss Marychurch's family had suffered.
"Every birthday, every holiday, every family gathering is a painful reminder that she is missing," she said.
"No punishment will ever undo the pain, trauma, and heartbreak we live with every single day."
She said the family had been given a life sentence of grief.
Marychurch's oldest daughter Tamika said the pain of losing her mother had fundamentally changed her life.
"I struggle with the reality that she was violently attacked while she was alone," she said.
"She deserved to live a long life surrounded by love, to be a cherished mother and grandmother, and to continue sharing her life with us."
"The loss of my mum has left a permanent emptiness in my life."
Another daughter, Joan, said she lived with constant fear of losing the people she loved.
"One of the hardest things I carry is the fact that I never got to say goodbye to my mum," she said.
"I did not even get to see her until five days later, because her body was not ready due to the stab wounds she suffered."
Joan said no sentence handed down would bring back her mother.
"Regardless of the sentencing, I will still wake up every day to the reality that my mother is gone forever."
"I will still carry the pain, the trauma, the anger, and the emptiness inside of me for the rest of my life."
Finally, one of Marychurch's youngest sons, Sosefina, said he was haunted everyday by what happened to his mother.
"I constantly replay in my mind how frightened she must have been during the attack that caused her death."
He said the trauma had left him fearful of buses, something he knew he would never get over.
Crown lawyer Wiremu Te Hiko acknowledged the family present in court.
He described the murder as brutal and callous.
"This was down to voluntary consumption of methamphetamine rather than primarily contributable to an underlying mental health impairment," Te Hiko said.
"There's particular harm here given how integral a part of a family member, Ms Marychurch, was to the whanau," he said.
Te Hiko also commented on the loss Leona's family would suffer following sentencing.
"Mr Leona's children, through no fault of their own, will also suffer the loss of a parent, although not indefinitely, as Ms. Marychurch's whanau have," he said.
Leona's defence lawyer, Jo Scott, said he accepted he needed to be sentenced to life in prison.
She spoke about his remorse, saying he had written a note of apology to the family of Bernice Marychurch.
"He acknowledges their pain and their loss, and he knows that nothing he can do or say will take away that pain, but he wants them to know how sorry he is," Scott said.
Scott said it was their position that Leona suffered a disease of the mind at the time of the murder, exacerbated by drug use.
"Methamphetamine almost certainly exacerbated these symptoms, but the fact that he's held these delusions for over four months after the index offending indicates, in my submission, that methamphetamine wasn't the only cause of his psychosis and his delusions."
The Crown sought a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, while Leona's defence asked for 10 years.
Justice Layne Harvey recounted the facts of the case, how the two met for the first time outside an Onehunga supermarket, and boarded a bus together some time later, before Leona launched into his attack.
Justice Harvey said Leona had believed Marychurch was spying on him as part of a plot to kill him.
He thanked Marychurch's family for sharing their experience with the court, and acknowledged the impact the murder had.
Justice Harvey said he accepted that Leona was suffering some form of disease of the mind at the time of the murder, but the extent that this mitigated his culpability was unclear.
He found a starting period of 14 years was appropriate, brought down to 12 years with discounts.
Leona was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years.
He will also serve 12 months concurrently for strangulation.
Speaking outside of the High Court, Mark Hiini told RNZ it was a good outcome.
"We have a sense of justice being done today, for all of us," he said.
Hiini said a healing process had been reached through the sentencing on Wednesday.
"It's a good message for the nation, probably around the world, how this case is really important so that people have a sense of stability to come into the community, to go on buses, hopefully everything works out, and we can go forward."
The family was at peace, he said.
"I thank God for our peace that he's given us," he said.
"We can move on now."
-RNZ