An Auckland man has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for manslaughter after a pursuit over gold rings and a necklace caused a man to drown.
Joniero Joe Irving was found guilty of manslaughter in the Auckland District Court in February for the death of James Jenkins.
The two men were at the Andrew Andrew bar at Auckland’s Viaduct on October 7, 2019.
At around 3.30am the two had a conversation, of which there is no account of, but according to court documents, it was clear they had a history.
In the bar Jenkins, who was fearful that Irving would try to take his jewellery, took off a Rolex and a heavy gold necklace, putting them in his partner's bag. He kept his two gold rings on.
At around 4am, Jenkins and his partner left the bar, which was when Irving “aggressively pursued” him.
Out of fear, Jenkins ran, diving into the cold harbour to get away from his pursuer.
As he tried to swim away, Irving and his friend “stalked and shadowed” Jenkins.
Eventually, he swam to a nearby ferry terminal, calling for help.
He climbed a ladder, but Irving had already run to the pier and waited for him. Jenkins stayed on the ladder for some time.
“I’m going to f***ing smash you; I want to f***ing kill you,” Irving yelled at Jenkins from the pier.
Jenkins made it onto the ferry, which was when Irving tried to board; he wasn’t successful and demanded he hand over the gold rings.
Jenkins gave him the rings, but his pursuer also wanted the gold necklace he had previously given his partner.
When Jenkins couldn’t hand it over, Irving made a move as if to board the ferry, and Jenkins jumped back into the harbour.
As he moved towards the bow of the ferry, Jenkins began to grow weak - unresponsive to efforts to help him.
Irving watched the man struggle before leaving. Jenkins eventually drowned.
At his sentencing, Justice Brewer was asked if there could be a discount to his imprisonment. Irving was remorseful of the incident, writing an apology letter to the victim’s family.
This was declined.
“Well, it is easy to write a letter expressing remorse after you have been found guilty of a serious charge,” Brewer said.
“And the fact that in some aspects of your life, you behaved well is not by itself a factor warranting a sentence discount."
The judge said text messages Irving sent the following day lacked remorse.
“I am reminded of your text message exchange with Mr Pure later in the morning of the incident. Of course, you didn’t then know that Mr Jenkins had drowned, but your attitude was not one of remorse.
“Nor have you returned the rings or disclosed what you did with them.”
Brewer said the pursuit was purely motivated by financial gain, with no indications it was caused by drug addiction.
“I have seen descriptions of dislocation and deprivation significantly worse than yours,” the judge said.
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