Non-jail sentence after fatal fight | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A Masterton woman who had originally faced a manslaughter charge related to the death of Koria Matiaha, 25, has been sentenced on the lesser charge of assault to 200 hours of community work and nine months of supervision.

Te Whairangi Maxine Biddle, 21, appeared in Masterton District Court yesterday - just a week after her girlfriend Diamond Orupe, a 21-year-old former boxer, was sentenced in the Wellington High Court to two years and four months in jail for Mr Matiaha's manslaughter.

Both women originally faced a joint manslaughter charge after Mr Matiaha died at Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit three days after the June 4 attack from a subdural brain haemorrhage caused by the blunt force head trauma inflicted by Orupe's punches.

The assault was preceded by an afternoon of drinking and cannabis smoking - as Biddle, Orupe and a group of friends were preparing to leave Mr Matiaha's Stuart Crescent house to continue partying a fight erupted between Mr Matiaha and Biddle's mother.

In the early part of the altercation Biddle had kicked Mr Matiaha roughly three times as he lay on the ground holding her mother's hair.

After releasing Biddle's mother Mr Matiaha stood up and swung at Biddle - at this point Orupe stepped in to defend her partner, punching Mr Matiaha in the face.

Later in the fight Orupe straddled Mr Matiaha as he lay on the ground, continuing to punch him as he lay unconscious.

Biddle plead guilty to the reduced charge of assault in October and her lawyer Jock Blathwayt said yesterday that although his client accepted she was involved in the assault a forensic pathologists' report had concluded Biddle had not caused Mr Matiaha's death and that her involvement, according to the pathologist, was "minor in nature."

Mr Blathwayt said Biddle accepted "she had an alcohol and drug problem that she needs to address" and reminded the court she had been trying to protect her mother before the fatal assault occurred.

In considering sentencing Justice Michael Behrens took into account Biddle's defence of her mother and her young age.

He also noted the seriousness of Biddle's original manslaughter charge and used the comparatively short length of Orupe's two year, four month manslaughter sentence - a conviction that carries a maximum life sentence - as a yardstick for Biddle's sentencing.