UPDATED 3.36PM: A Nomads gang member has been sentenced to life in prison for stabbing Desroe Bishop to death in his Opunake home.

Shiloh Mareikura admits to murdering his childhood friend in front of a child witness on September 5th last year.

A judge told the High Court in New Plymouth Mareikura knocked on Mr Bishop's door in the early hours of the morning, before laying into him with a butcher's knife.

The child tried to fight him off, before Mareikura told him he'd be next.

Mr Bishop then instructed the child to run away.

Mareikura will serve a minimum non-parole period of 15 years in jail.

The High Court earlier heard Corrections gave  Mareikura permission to go to Opunake for a funeral the day before he murdered his childhood friend.

The packed courtroom heard he had previously been jailed for threatening to kill Mr Bishop, and was banned from entering the township on his release.

The judge said he didn't attend the funeral he was supposed to, but rather drank at a local pub in the hours leading up to the murder.

She said Mareikura knocked on Mr Bishop's door in the early hours of the morning, before laying into him with a butcher's knife - in front of a child witness.

The child tried to fight him off, before Mareikura told them they’d be next.

Mr Bishop then instructed the child to run away.

Mr Bishop's cousin said her family knows the Mareikuras well, and the coastal township doesn't feel the same anymore.

Mareikura will serve a minimum non-parole period of 15 years in jail.