Martin Olley

Background

Background
NZ Herald story here
From Auckland Now story 4th February 2012
The adoptive parents of a 23-year-old man stabbed to death in a boarding house say their son wasn't a bad boy and while he had a few convictions, he was trying to get his life back on track. Yesterday 31-year-old Martin Olley was sentenced to eight-and-and-half years jail for killing John Patrick Chambers. Olley was found guilty of manslaughter late last year by a jury in the High Court at Auckland. He had been charged with murder after stabbing Chambers in the heart after a deal to sell some jewellery for drugs fell through. Chambers' adoptive parents Mark and Maryanne Owens said the drug-and alcohol-fuelled picture of Chambers - also known as John Patrick Owens - that was presented to the court did not accurately represent the very likeable, talented person they knew and loved.

Chambers had come to live with the couple and their daughter Alice when he was five-years-old. He had moved out when he was 16-years-old and got back in touch with his biological family. In their victim impact statement the Owens said that in an attempt to escape any consequences for his actions Olley had invented a "convoluted pack of lies". "Because of this we have had to endure John being described as a violent drug user who was the aggressor on the night that he died, despite the facts clearly showing that John was a passive victim and his only wish at the time was to go home to his girlfriend and fiancée. This has brought us further sadness."

"John was a very likeable boy who made friends easily. His last few years have seen him out of his depth mixing in dangerous circles, however, this did nothing to dampen our love for him or our determination to see him travel on the good path." "Due to Martin Olley's actions we will never see John make the good decisions that we know he was capable of or make the changes that he said he was so determined to make." The couple sat through the two-week trial and said yesterday they found it very hard to live with the fact that the only photo of their son that was shown to the court was a crime scene shot of him lying face down in a pool of blood. During the trial Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb said Olley killed Chambers in the Eden Park Lodge boarding house on September 11, 2010

Glubb said the pair were drug associates and they had tried to sell a necklace Olley had found on Trade Me. They listed the necklace as white gold but it turned out to be made of silver and the sale fell through. Later that night, the pair were in the boarding house's communal kitchen and a "ruckus" broke out between them, Glubb said. An eyewitness testified that he saw Chambers with a kitchen knife. Chambers handed over the knife and sat back down but Olley picked it up. He then walked across the kitchen and stabbed Chambers in the chest as he was sitting. A pathologist told the court the 11cm to 12cm-deep wound passed through Chambers' lung and into his heart. He died at the scene. Olley left the boarding house by climbing out a window. The knife was found in the sink and the jury heard it had Chambers' blood on the blade and Olley's DNA on the handle.