Thu 7 Jul 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A man who bashed Upper Hutt transsexual Diksy Jones to death in 2009 has had his sentence reduced. David Shaun Galloway was originally jailed for 10 years, with a minimum non-parole period of five years, for the fatal bashing on April 29, 2009. Jones has been described by media as a transvestite, however GayNZ.com Daily News understands she identified as a woman. The 64-year-old was an occasional small-time cannabis dealer, and the Human Rights Commission says she was also a cabinet maker, who loved old cars, cricket and cats. She suffered a brutal beating by Galloway, who was 18 at the time, and Phillip Christopher Sanders, 42, in her Upper Hutt flat. She was hit with more than a dozen blows to the head. Galloway told police that he followed Sanders to the flat "to beat up a transvestite", that he "believed in Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", and that "he" did not deserve to live. A jury found the men guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, with Galloway jailed for 10 years and Sanders for 9-1/2 years, partly because Justice Robert Dobson determined it was a hate crime on Galloway's part. Three Court of Appeal judges have ruled that Galloway's jail term be reduced to nine years, and his minimum non-parole period cut to four years, saying Justice Dobson "overstated the seriousness of the hate crime aspect of the homicide". They say Galloway was highly intoxicated at the time, had no hate crime history, was sexually abused as a child and had acted properly around a transvestite in prison. The judges also said the six month discount for Galloway's youth was too light.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 7th July 2011 - 3:19pm