Dunedin man Jordan Taylor appeals life sentence for killing mother with dumbbell
By Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter of
Dunedin teenager Jordan Taylor bludgeoned his mother to death with a dumbbell in January, 2023.
Photo:
RNZ / Tess Brunton
Warning: This article contains references to mental health issues and suicidal thoughts.
Lawyers acting for a teen who bashed his mother's head in with a 10kg dumbbell say he shouldn't have received a sentence of life imprisonment.
Instead, Jordan Taylor's lawyers on Wednesday told the Court of Appeal in Wellington his sentence should be replaced with a finite sentence of between 13 and 15 years' jail.
Taylor was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2023, with a minimum period of 10 years, for killing his mother Anita in their Dunedin home.
They had spent the evening celebrating his 18th birthday with a friend. But, after the friend left, the tone between the mother and son changed.
Anita reportedly berated her son for several minutes and told him she wanted to die - something his lawyer said at the time of sentencing that made him snap.
Once she had gone to bed, Taylor turned out the hallway lights, went into her room and bludgeoned her to death.
He told one clinician he had never harboured violent thoughts towards his mother before, but after the first blow, he decided to "finish her off" with two more. He told another expert it was actually four further blows, and it was to put her out of her misery.
The teenager then put a tea towel on the stove, turned it on, packed a bag and left the house. However, he ended up calling police soon afterwards, admitting what he had done.
Lawyer Kerry Cook said Taylor saw his mother's comments as the ultimate rejection.
Photo:
Mark Mitchell / NZME
On Wednesday, lawyer Kerry Cook, assisted by his trial counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner, told three Court of Appeal judges Taylor saw his mother's comment about wanting to die as the ultimate rejection, that she didn't consider him worth living for.
"It was time to end the source of his problems," Cook said, referring to the now 20-year-old's actions in killing his mother.
Cook said Anita's comment and what followed needed to be considered against a backdrop of Taylor's incredibly isolated, abusive and dysfunctional life.
He told the court context was crucial in this case - at sentencing, Justice Melanie Harland had erred by failing to take into account the particular circumstances of Taylor's upbringing and age.
Cook said the defendant was isolated by his mother and felt trapped. He thought standing up to his mother's abuses and taunts would only make things worse but he couldn't leave because he worried about how she would cope.
He referred to his client's age and suggested his immaturity, lack of self-control and inability to consider the impact of his actions had also impacted Taylor's actions that night.
He also submitted the level of brutality that night, which didn't involve prolonged suffering or deliberate cruelty, failed to reach the highest level that warranted a sentence of life imprisonment.
Finally, he said the judge had incorrectly assessed Taylor's ongoing risk to the community, suggesting the need for public protection didn't apply as strongly in this case as in other cases.
He told the court an expert had suggested, somewhat perversely, that Taylor's risk of reoffending had lowered because his mother, who was the source of his anger, was now dead and he was no longer as isolated as he had been while living with her.
Cook said the judge was wrong to impose a life sentence and instead a finite sentence of between 13 and 15 years was appropriate.
Crown counsel Mark Lillico told the court Taylor's reduced culpability, as a result of his background, was reflected in the "ground-floor" minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years.
Lillico said that although aspects of this case were unusual, murders often occurred in a domestic situation, after an argument. There were feelings of anger, and often those involved were disinhibited by the effects of drugs or alcohol, he said.
Lillico told the court the sentence of life imprisonment wasn't manifestly unjust.
Justices Pheroze Jagose, Jillian Mallon and Christine Grice have reserved their decision.
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
-This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
One dead, three injured in Waikato crash
One person died in the crash at Te Aroha. Photo: St John One person died and three were injured in a two vehicle crash at Te Aroha in Waikato on Friday afternoon. Police said the crash on Stanley Road South was reported just before 1.40pm. One person died at the scene, a second person was seriously injured and two people sustained moderate injuries, police said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
Two arrested after man hid in ceiling, robbed Marton store while closing
Photo: A man has been charged after allegedly hiding in the ceiling space of a store in Marton and then threatening an employee with a weapon before fleeing with a large amount of cash. Police said that at 10pm on 10 May, the employee had closed and locked the store and was then confronted by the man. Detective Sergeant Carey Priest said the employee was not injured but was understandably shaken by the incident. A subsequent police investigation found the man, who police said also burgled the store a month earlier. Police have arrested and charged two men in relation to both incidents on counts of aggravated robbery and burglary. A 39 year old appeared in court on 12 June, while a 49 year old will appear on 17 June. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
Coronial inquest into LynnMall attack completes first phase
Ahamed Samsudeen coming out of the New Lynn train station, on the day of the attack on 3 September, 2021. Photo: Supplied The first phase of the coronial inquest into the LynnMall attack four years ago has concluded in Auckland on Friday. Ahamed Samsudeen was shot and killed by police, after stabbing four women and one man with a kitchen knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn. Two others were injured trying to stop him. Phase one of the inquiry began last week, with two more phases expected to sit later this year. Samsudeen was granted refugee status in 2013, identified by the SIS as a terrorist threat in early 2017 and under surveillance at the time of the attack. Coroner Marcus Elliott set out the path the inquest would take last year, ruling it would cover Samsudeen's path to extremism, his management in the community and what happened on the day he died. In the first phase covering the day of the attack, the coroner heard from survivors, who talked about their experiences and the impact the attack had on them in the years since. CCTV footage was examined frame by frame, with police staff providing evidence on tracking Samsudeen's movements and the actions taken by officers leading up to his shooting. Giving closing statements, police counsel Alysha McClintock said the task of the coroner was a delicate one. "In my submission, great, great care is needed with the precision of hindsight that we now have and with the precision of these stills we have been carefully working our way through," she said. "We have to take great care in trying to analyse in the cold light of day, in this courtroom, that material and use it as a possible ability to essentially rewrite what should have happened. In my submission, that is very dangerous indeed." Earlier in the day, the inquest heard officers had no option but to use lethal force , after failing to de-escalate the situation. McClintock said questions around using a taser to subdue Samsudeen were obvious, but ultimately, that wouldn't have changed what happened. "The evidence that has been given in this inquiry, in my submission, has made it clear that the carrying of a taser would have made no difference in this situation, given the risk presented by what Mr Samsudeen was doing at the critical time," McClintock said. Representing officers involved in the attack, lawyer Todd Simmonds said their decision not to follow Ahamed Samsudeen into the supermarket that day was sound. "It was, knowing what they knew at the time, an appropriate decision to make," he said. Simmonds echoed McClintock's warning about hindsight. He said surveillance officers were not equipped to follow Samsudeen into the supermarket. "Even if they had followed Mr Samsudeen into the supermarket on the afternoon in question... they would not have been in a position to incapacitate Mr Samsudeen from his ongoing attack on members of the public," Simmonds said. Simmonds asked Coroner Marcus Elliott to consider acknowledging the actions of police on the day in his findings. Representing the interests of Ahamed Samsudeen's family, lawyer Fletcher Pilditch said the benefit of the coronial process was that the coroner wasn't bound to label something simply wrong or right. "The court's not bound by those polar positions" he said. "The court's in the position where it can simply, calmly, with the benefit of a great deal of information, reflect upon the facts and invite those that were involved... in this incident to simply reflect on those facts and to invite consideration going forward. "That can be done, as I say, without any criticism, without any second-guessing of the IPCA or the findings of justified use of force - it can simply be the presentation of facts." Pilditch said earlier intervention could have made a difference. "His window of opportunity to inflict harm was the very opportunity created by not being surveilled within that time," he said. "The hard reality is that, if there had been an earlier intervention, a) no-one or less people may have been harmed, and b) Mr Samsudeen may well have found himself alone in the supermarket, but for armed [Special Tactic Group] officers. Lead counsel assisting the coroner Anna Adams was the last to give a closing statement, recapping the facts of the case, the surveillance of Samsudeen, his radical terrorist ideas and interests, and his history. She said Samsudeen's death affected many people. "First of all, of course, Mr Samsudeen has loving, surviving family members, who live overseas and grieve his death. "There are the survivors, there are the officers, people most affected by this phase of the inquest, but there are also, of course, Mr Samsudeen's lawyer, the people at the mosque where he stayed - they have all suffered trauma as a result of these events." Coroner Marcus Elliott concluded the phase, thanking those who took part. He acknowledged the profound personal consequences and harm suffered by so many due to the events leading up to and during the attack, before finishing with a karakia. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
