Fri 18 Sep 2009 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
10.50AM: The man who beat elderly gay Onehunga man Ronald Brown to death and left him with a broken banjo neck stuffed in his mouth will spend between eight and twelve years in prison for manslaughter. Ferdinand Ambach Justice Helen Winkelmann moments ago sentenced Hungarian tourist Ferdinand Ambach to twelve years with a minimum non-parole period of eight years for what she termed a truly cruel and brutal crime which was as close to murder as one could get. Ronald Brown Brown, 69, was found dying in the stairwell of his blood-splattered and trashed Onehunga home after neighbours called police to a disturbance shortly after midnight on December 8th, 2007. Ambach, still upstairs, had ripped bathroom fittings from the wall, thrown furniture through windows and barricaded the stairs with household items. Ambach, 30 at the time of the killing, avoided a murder conviction in his July jury trial when he claimed memory loss and exploited 'gay panic' defence, more formally known as the partial defence of provocation, by claiming that Brown's alleged sexual advance to him was enough to understandably trigger what his own lawyer termed a "monstrous" rage. Bloodstains and broken windows at Brown's home Brown, who was known to some in Auckland's gay community but who had not come out to his close friends and family, was typified by Ambach's defence as a man who therefore harboured a "dark secret," implying that he was a deeply troubled man. Gay community anger over successful historical use of 'gay panic' defence to gain lesser convictions or acquittals for the attackers and killers of gay men was a strong factor behind the introduction of a Bill currently before Parliament to strike the partial defence of provocation provision from the statutes. The call for change only recently gained momentum and general public support due to national revulsion over its unsuccessful use in the Weatherston trial. GayNZ.com is reporting live from the sentencing and will bring you full details from the court and reaction to the sentence.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 18th September 2009 - 10:50am