World News | Indian-origin Man in New Zealand Who Killed His Wife's Lover with a Hammer Appeals Jail Term

Melbourne, Nov 3 (PTI) A 39-year-old Indian-origin man in New Zealand, who murdered his wife's paramour last year with a hammer, and was sentenced to life in March this year, has challenged the hefty jail term, according to a media report on Thursday.

Niraj Nilesh Prasad admitted that he murdered his wife's lover with a hammer, because he was driven by a deep shame and despair magnified by his Indian culture, the Otago Daily Times newspaper reported.

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The accountant laid in wait before killing Fijian-born Faiz Ali at his Christchurch flat on February 21 last year, the report said.

Prasad was found guilty of murder at the High Court in Christchurch in March, it said.

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Justice Rob Osborne later sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 18 and a-half years.

However, Prasad is challenging the length of his sentence at the Court of Appeal, the report said.

At a hearing, his lawyer James Rapley KC argued that cultural factors were in play when Prasad reacted so viciously and violently, and were “causative” of his brutal offending, but not taken into account when he was sentenced, according to the report.

It was a “slightly controversial issue”, Rapley said, but with care and sensitive thought, the issues raised in the cultural report should be taken into account because it helps explain his extreme actions and, to some extent, lessens his culpability, it said.

Prasad had been in a relationship for around 18 years when he discovered his wife Nalini Roy – who had converted from Hindu to Christianity - was having an affair and no longer wanted to be with him, it added.

The Court of Appeal panel has reserved its decision.

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