Two Indian-origin men in New Zealand have been found guilty of burning a 21-year-old man to death over his life savings, two years after the brutal incident that could see them jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of at least 10 years.
Shivneel Kumar, 20, and Bryne Permal, 22, spent nearly a month on trial in the High Court at Auckland over the death of Shalvin Prasad, whose smouldering body was found on a rural South Auckland road on January 31, 2013.
After deliberating for around 20 hours over three days, the jury yesterday returned guilty verdicts for the duo.
Prasad's brother Pravin said: "We feel that this decision finally holds these evil criminals accountable for the malicious death of my brother."
"We are looking very forward to an appropriate sentence being handed down," Pravin said.
"You have to wait for two years to get to this stage, and as I said before, the decision was very good for us," he said.
On January 30, the victim withdrew 30,050 New Zealand dollar (about USD 23,000) from a Manukau bank at the request of Kumar, who waited outside.
Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins said the pair "considered a sum of money was worth more than Mr Prasad's life."
Despite them both being charged with murder, he fingered Kumar as "the instigator and driving force" behind the crime.
He said on the night of January 30, Prasad met the two defendants and was driven through south Auckland.
The Crown said the victim was assaulted at an unknown location and bundled into the boot of Permal's mother's car, driven by Kumar.
The defendants then bought 15 litres of petrol, using the stolen money, before driving to McRobbie Rd in Kingseat, where they doused the victim in petrol and set him alight.
Medical witnesses gave evidence that Prasad was conscious when the fire was ignited.
In the days after the murder, Kumar spent thousands of dollars on his car and paying off various debts and on February 2 he and Permal went shopping together.
Large sums were also deposited into bank accounts linked to Kumar.
The 21-year-old's charred remains were found early the next day by a woman walking her dog. The men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.
They will both be jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of at least 10 years.
