The sinister plot thickened as the 16-year-old ‘possessive’ male meticulously crafted a “kill plan,” chillingly advising his ex to dodge school on D-day. But fate intervened, and the plan crumbled, propelling the deranged Romeo to storm his rival’s home, where he unleashed a frenzy of machete swings, carving open his victim’s chest and arm.
In an emotional twist, the battered but brave survivor confessed a complicated cocktail of feelings toward his attacker, branding him a friend turned fiend, and casting a shadow on the upbringing that nurtured such a monster.
The assailant was up for sentencing before the Wellington High Court and was slapped with a 12-month home detention sentence for his barbaric attack, narrowly avoiding prison.
The tale took a darker turn as details emerged of the attacker’s descent into madness, stalking his ex’s new boyfriend, arming himself with a machete he had purchased, and hell-bent on murder.
The ordeal has left the victim scarred for life, and a young man’s future hanging by a thread, as debates rage over the sentence that saw a would-be killer confined to his home, leaving many to wonder: Where is the justice for the victim who came face to face with death and lived to tell the tale?
