A 39-year-old New Zealand man has been jailed for at least 18 years for the "execution-style" murder of his aunt and uncle, after they complained about him using a teaspoon in the sugar after first using it to stir coffee.
Edwin Maheno, was sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei on Tuesday after admitting the murder of Ivan, 44, and Carmen Maheno, 38.
His mandatory life imprisonment term attracted a non-parole period of 18 years.
On May 19, Maheno shot the couple multiple times with a .22 calibre rifle after an argument about a coffee teaspoon being used in the sugar.
In sentencing, Justice Geoffrey Venning described the killings as a callous execution-style killing where Maheno acted with a high level of cruelty and callousness.
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Maheno lived in the house with his uncle and aunt and the court heard that on the morning of the killings Maheno went into a rage after they complained about him using a teaspoon in the sugar after using it to stir coffee.
The argument got heated with Maheno first challenging his uncle to a fight. Both Maheno and the couple returned to their rooms where Maheno loaded ammunition into his .22 calibre rifle.
Maheno then walked into his uncle and aunt's room and shot his uncle in the face as he pleaded for his life.
His aunt then struggled with Maheno as he was reloading. He struck her with a closed fist and she ran from the house.
Maheno followed her, shooting her in the back of the head and in the buttocks before going back into the house and, on finding his uncle alive, shooting him again in the head.
Ivan Maheno died at the scene while Carmen Maheno died later in hospital.
The court heard that a dispute over inheritance and a personality clash were largely behind the shooting.
Tension had been building up in the household since Ivan Maheno had been bequeathed the property from Edwin Maheno's grandmother in 2009.
Justice Venning noted that Maheno had considered killing himself before deciding that killing his victims would be more of a service to the family as the property would go back into the family.
"This murder was committed with a high level of cruelty and callousness," he said.
"It's not going too far as describing your actions as similar to execution style killings."
