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Maarten Holl / Things
Ernest Smith was sentenced in October 2013 for the murder of Amanda Taufale in 2012. (File photo)
The man who hid for hours on the roof of his ex-partner’s house, sneaking out in the middle of the night to murder her, has not been able to reopen the length of his period of non-parole.
Ernest Smith is serving at least 17 years in life in prison for murdering Amanda Dawn Taufale in November 2012, in the home he shared with his two children in Tawa, a northern suburb of Wellington.
Taufale was 33 years old and had two children, one 15 years old and the other a baby. The baby had been sleeping in a crib in his mother’s room the night she was killed there.
The older boy found his body in the morning,
Smith pleaded guilty to murdering her.
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In 2016, Smith lost an appeal against the 17-year minimum that he must serve before he can be considered for parole.
Recently, some four years outside the normal time frames, he asked the Supreme Court to hear another appeal.
In a decision issued Wednesday, the court refused.
The Supreme Court said Smith had wanted to raise questions about the level of reduction warranted for a conviction for murder and whether personal characteristics meant that he should have obtained a greater discount in the sentencing process.
He said the proposed appeal did not raise a question of principle or public importance that would allow him to hear his case.
Supplied
Amanda Taufale met Smith when she was on vacation in the Cayman Islands. (File photo)
He was not convinced that there was a sufficient link between Smith’s personal characteristics and the murder to raise the question of Smith gaining a higher tolerance for personal factors.
The judges said denying permission for a final appeal would not risk judicial error.
The psychiatric reports available to the sentencing judge said Smith had personality factors that may have played a role in the murder, such as a particularly harsh childhood, limited intellectual functioning, lack of literacy and depression.
But in the end it was her anger and frustration at the end of the relationship and the limits to seeing her and her son, which triggered the violence, the sentencing judge said.
Smith was born and raised in Jamaica, but moved to the Cayman Islands as a migrant worker in 2006. He met Taufale when she was vacationing in the Caymans in 2007, according to an earlier court decision.
He immigrated to New Zealand in 2009.
They had a child together, but the relationship deteriorated, violent incidents occurred, and Taufale ended the relationship.
Smith was asked to return the key to the house, but secretly kept a spare one.
She entered on November 14, 2012, when she and the children were out. She hid on the roof for several hours before leaving after 10pm.
He lowered himself to the ground using straps that he had tied to a beam and used a knife to attack Taufale in his bedroom.
The delay in going to the Supreme Court was attributed to Smith’s illiteracy, limited intellectual capacity and learning difficulties, making it difficult for him to find a lawyer and give instructions for the appeal.
