Mount Isa man jailed for 8 years after guilty plea
A Mount Isa man has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his sister’s de facto partner in December 2017 in the northwest mining town.
Paramedics tried to revive the man but he was later pronounced dead at the scene. Photo: ABC
Regan Lee Tamati, a tyre fitter who was 28 at the time of the crime, killed Warren Hemi in a drunken brawl in Happy Valley, in suburban Mount Isa.
The Supreme Court heard Tamati picked up Hemi, 40, and “dumped him” after finding out he had allegedly assaulted his sister.
Hemi was knocked unconscious and Tamati returned a short time later to give him CPR but he died at the scene.
The court heard that at the time, Tamati was on a suspended sentence for another violence-related offence where he had also allegedly acted out of family loyalty.
That suspended sentence was invoked concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.
Originally Tamati was charged with unlawful striking before it was upgraded to murder, and then subsequently downgraded to manslaughter.
Tamati, who had lived in Mount Isa for more than two decades, will be eligible for parole in June 2021 and will be deported back to New Zealand after his release.
Editor’s note 17/03/2020: This story has been updated since its original publication date of 18/12/2017 to include the sentence.
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