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Nazi-flag rage brings murder conviction
11.11.05
A Christchurch man who bashed his former de facto partner to death in a blind rage over a stolen Nazi flag has been convicted of murder.
Nicholas Robert Marsh, 38, denied kidnapping and murdering Nicola Jane Hackell at his Christchurch flat last March 26.
But a jury of seven men and five women took just over five hours in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday to find him guilty on both counts.
Earlier, crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told the jury Marsh had subjected Ms Hackell to a prolonged and determined beating overnight on Easter Saturday during which she suffered more than 100 injuries to her body and at least 13 separate head injuries.
Marsh, a thin man with receding brown hair tied in a short pony-tail, admitted to police he had given the mother of his 12-year-old son "the bash" because
she had taken a Nazi flag that once graced his loun
ge wall.
Marsh told police he had gone "ballistic" but although he admitted beating Ms Hackell "to a pulp", he had not intended killing her.
Justice John Fogarty convicted Marsh and sentenced him to the mandatory life imprisonment. He remanded him until December 13 for sentence on the kidnapping charge and for submissions from lawyers on a possible non-parole period.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?...jectid=10354647
11.11.05
A Christchurch man who bashed his former de facto partner to death in a blind rage over a stolen Nazi flag has been convicted of murder.
Nicholas Robert Marsh, 38, denied kidnapping and murdering Nicola Jane Hackell at his Christchurch flat last March 26.
But a jury of seven men and five women took just over five hours in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday to find him guilty on both counts.
Earlier, crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told the jury Marsh had subjected Ms Hackell to a prolonged and determined beating overnight on Easter Saturday during which she suffered more than 100 injuries to her body and at least 13 separate head injuries.
Marsh, a thin man with receding brown hair tied in a short pony-tail, admitted to police he had given the mother of his 12-year-old son "the bash" because
she had taken a Nazi flag that once graced his loun
ge wall.
Marsh told police he had gone "ballistic" but although he admitted beating Ms Hackell "to a pulp", he had not intended killing her.
Justice John Fogarty convicted Marsh and sentenced him to the mandatory life imprisonment. He remanded him until December 13 for sentence on the kidnapping charge and for submissions from lawyers on a possible non-parole period.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?...jectid=10354647