New Zealand double murderer gets 23-year prison term
January 29th, 2010 - 8:39 am ICT by IANSWellington, Jan 29 (DPA) A New Zealand man who admitted murdering his wife and a neighbour and burying their bodies under his house was sent to prison for at least 23 years Friday.
Jason Somerville, 33, killed neighbour Tisha Lowry, 28, in September 2008. Her body was not found until nearly a year later, after he admitted to killing his wife, Rebecca, 35.
Both women were strangled, and Somerville told police he had sexual intercourse with both after killing them, an act Judge Lester Chisholm described when sentencing him in the Christchurch High Court as “bizarre and disgusting”.
He gave Somerville the mandatory life sentence for murder, with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years.
It is one of the longest non-parole periods given to a convicted murderer in New Zealand.
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Tags: 23 years, chisholm, double murderer, jan 29, lowry, mandatory life sentence, neighbour, new zealand, periods, prison term, sexual intercourse, wellington, wife rebecca