Wire Manuel Reddington has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his friend Jamie Gill at a property in the Wairarapa last year. 

Gill was found dead in a muddy paddock with parts of his ears bitten off on the morning of June 25. 

This morning, in the High Court at Wellington Justice Jason McHerron sentenced Reddington to life with a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) of 14 years. 

He said Reddington committed the murder with a high degree of brutality and callousness. 

In October a jury accepted the Crown’s version of events – that Reddington, who had been on a two-day bender, lashed out and attacked Gill in a drug and alcohol-fuelled rage. 

Reddington unsuccessfully argued that he was insane at the time. 

Gill had spent the previous night with two men – Reddington and Reddington’s older brother Tipene – and their mother, who had gone off to bed when the combined effects of alcohol and her strong medication took hold. 

Reddington attacked Gill on the driveway, biting off bits of his ears before strangling him and dragging his body down the drive, through a gate and into the paddock where he flipped him onto his stomach. Gill was left in a ditch where he suffocated to death. 

His body was found the next morning in the paddock by the property’s landlord who came to collect hay from a shed. 

At trial, Reddington’s defence team argued the jury should consider he was insane at the time. 

At sentencing, Crown prosecutor Tamara Jenkin submitted the murder was one that involved a high level of brutality and Gill was vulnerable. 

Reddington’s lawyer Ian Hard said although the jury rejected their assertion his client suffered from schizophrenia, he did suffer from PTSD as a result of a traumatic upbringing. 

Hard suggested an MPI of 12 years was appropriate as it would allow Reddington to receive the help he needed in jail. 

Justice McHerron said both the Crown and defence agreed because of Reddington’s personal circumstances it would be manifestly unjust to impose an MPI of 17 years, the non-parole period on a life sentence reserved for murders with serious aggravating factors. 

Justice McHerron agreed and instead imposed 14 years. 

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.