Murdered Karen Aim’s father speaks of his grief

Ms Aim, 27, from the Orkney Islands, was spending a working holiday in North Island, New Zealand in 2006. When she was returning home after a night out in Taupo in January last year, her assailant attacked her with a baseball bat. She was found barely conscious by a policeman investigating a burglary in the area and taken to hospital, but she died soon afterwards.

Jahche Broughton, 14, who was the main accused in the case, claimed in court that he was present during the attack but that someone else was "mainly responsible" for the killing.

Justice Graham Lang stated that there was not "a shred of evidence" to indicate that anyone else was involved. The youth later confessed to the crime. Broughton's mother claimed that her son, who was 14 at the time of the murder, killed Ms Aim to get money to buy drugs.

According to his sentence, Jahche Broughton, now 15, will spend at least 12 years in prison. He is believed to be one of the youngest criminals to receive a life sentence in New Zealand. Justice Graham Lang told Rotorua High Court that the young Maori's age and guilty plea were factors in the sentence.

In an emotional interview, Brian Aim told how he and his wife Peggy had been planning to visit their daughter when they learnt of her death. He and his wife along with their son Alan had traveled from their home town of Holm in Orkney for Broughton’s trial.

Brian Aim, a self-employed builder and joiner, states, “I just can’t think of Karen being murdered. All I want is her home. I don’t think I will believe it until I see her body. I will always remember her wide smile and her chuckle. Her personality lit up every room she walked into.”

Brian said his daughter’s death has put a strain on his marriage and caused him health and financial problems. He said, “I would have been so proud to have taken Karen down the aisle in her wedding dress; instead I took Karen down the aisle in a coffin.”

On the subject of Jahche he said, “Jahche denied her the possibility of becoming a mother and a granny.”

Feeling remorse for his daughter’s murderer, Brain reflected, "He has taken away Karen's life, but he has also destroyed his own. If I go down that road of anger and revenge it would only destroy my life."

Broughton had also admitted to injuring a 17-year-old woman with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm in a separate incident two weeks before Ms Aim’s murder. For that attack, the teenager was sentenced to six years, to be served concurrently with his murder sentence.