Skinheads sentenced for hate crime

TVNZ, New Zealand/May 1, 2007

Two Nelson skinheads have been sentenced on charges of assault, and assault with intent to injure after a vicious attack on a group of Korean teenagers.

Daniel Kitto and Harry McCormack were caught on camera last month as they beat up four students, in broad daylight, sitting outside a Nelson dairy.

A 15-year-old boy who was kicked in the head needed stitches for cuts to his face. Police say the only reason the others were not badly injured was because they managed to run away.

The Crown said what happened to the victims fell squarely into the box of a hate crime.

"They were vulnerable, they were taken by surprise, and ill equipped to deal with the two prisoners who attacked them," said Crown prosecutor Glen Marshall.

Similarly, Judge David McKegg said white supremacist views had no place in society.

"This was an appalling, racially-based episode of violence and it is the type of offending which brings you, your community, and indeed your whole country into disrepute".

McCormack told police he did not like Asians and had wanted to hurt them. He has been sentenced to 12 months behind bars, and Kitto to eight.

Both men have also been ordered to undergo counselling and have been given leave to apply for home detention.