Taranaki farmworker Ethan Webster has life sentence for murder of Jacob Ramsay quashed

First published on Photo: Open Justice / Tara Shaskey Warning: This story contains graphic details that may disturb some readers. A teen murderer will no longer serve a life sentence for the grisly killing of his farm colleague. This week Ethan Webster has had his life sentence quashed due to his significant neurocognitive impairments, which came to light after his sentencing. Webster was 18 when he and William Mark Candy, 39, murdered Jacob Mills Ramsay by beating him, chaining him to a car by his ankle and dragging him 1km along a gravel tanker track. They then dumped Ramsay's body into a manmade rubbish pit at the dairy farm in Oaonui, South Taranaki, where they all worked. The July 2022 murder was motivated by an alleged "small" debt Ramsay had racked up with the offenders. Candy and Webster were workers on the same farm as Ramsay. While the two had been in their roles for at least three years, Ramsay's employment had begun about one month before his death. Ramsay's widow, Sarah Tasker, was pregnant with their third child when he was killed. Webster and Candy admitted murdering the 33-year-old and were sentenced to life imprisonment in the High Court at New Plymouth in March 2023. Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Justice Candy was given a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) of 17 years, while Webster received a 12-year MPI. Jodie Shannon Hughes, Candy's partner at the time, was charged alongside them but was acquitted of murder at a trial and found guilty of manslaughter. She is serving a sentence of five years and six months. But whether Webster had the mental capacity to admit murder, and if his life sentence was manifestly unjust, would later come under the microscope of the Court of Appeal. Appeal against sentence and conviction In December, the senior court dismissed Webster's appeal against his conviction but determined that life imprisonment was manifestly unjust and was to be quashed once it had determined a fixed sentence to replace it. That decision detailed how Webster had been diagnosed with mental impairments attributable to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) since he was sentenced. While it was determined there were no issues with his fitness to plead before he admitted the murder charge, more reports were ordered after his sentencing to assist in his appeal against his life sentence. Those assessments found he met the criteria for mild intellectual disability, confirmed he had dyslexia and also led to the FASD diagnosis. This gave rise to an appeal against his conviction, on the grounds that intellectual disability was a recognised impairment for the test of unfitness to stand trial within the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act. However, following further assessments, the Court of Appeal was not satisfied that the evidence proved he was unfit to plead at the relevant time, dismissing that aspect of his appeal. On his appeal against sentence, the Court of Appeal considered his mental impairment, attributable to FASD, was new information and materially relevant to his culpability, in addition to his youth. It found Webster was also vulnerable to Candy's influence, and further considered his low risk of reoffending, remorse and rehabilitation prospects, the length of his MPI and lifetime parole. Webster would not have been eligible for parole until he was 32. The court ruled a life imprisonment sentence was manifestly unjust when public safety concerns "do not loom large". When considering a determinate sentence, the Court of Appeal said in Monday's decision that it considered the appropriate starting point was 20 years' imprisonment. After considering the mitigating factors, which included Webster's "clinically significant neurocognitive impairments likely related to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder", that he was socially vulnerable, easily led and suggestible and this was seen as critical to his involvement in the offending, the senior court landed on an end sentence of 14 years' imprisonment with an MPI of seven years. Beaten, chained and dragged On the evening of July 29, 2022, Ramsay was in Ōakura, about a 30-minute drive from the farm. There, he texted another farm worker asking to be picked up. When Candy got wind of the communication, he told the farm worker to continue messaging Ramsay so he could find him and confront him about the alleged money owed. Candy found Ramsay at the Ōakura cemetery and immediately punched him in the face and pushed him down a bank. As Ramsay attempted to defend himself, Candy continued to punch him and wrestled him to the ground. He accused Ramsay of stealing money and "ruining the farm" while beating him. Candy then grabbed Ramsay and forced him into the car. He was driven back to the farm while being periodically assaulted by Candy. He was no longer resisting and was leaning against the passenger door in a semi-conscious state. When they pulled into the farm, Webster was awaiting their...

Taranaki farmworker Ethan Webster has life sentence for murder of Jacob Ramsay quashed

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