A mental health patient on "community leave" who murdered a woman in a random Christchurch stabbing earlier this year has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
There was applause from the gallery as Zakariye Hussein, 37, was sentenced at the High Court in Christchurch on Friday having earlier admitted to murdering Laisa Waka Tunidau while she was walking home.
Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes had asked Justice Cameron Mander to impose a significant period of imprisonment.
Hussein's offending had a "profound and devastating impact" on the victim's family, Hawes said.
Justice Mander said Hussein's murder of Waka Tunidau could only be described as "brutal".
The judge said Waka Tunidau did nothing to initiate the attack and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
On the afternoon of the murder, on June 25, Hussein absconded from the grounds of Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital and travelled by bus to Sockburn, Justice Mander said in his summary of facts.
From there, he walked to his family's address - but became angry while doing so.
He entered his family's home where he grabbed a steak knife, and concealed it.
Justice Mander said Hussein then saw two men washing a car who he was going to stab but decided not to do so, given the close proximity to his family's address.
Instead, he attacked Waka Tunidau on Cheyenne St. The judge said the victim received a stab wound on her arm, before Hussein inflicted multiple stab wounds to her upper chest - which proved fatal.
Hussein then threw the knife and walked away.
Waka Tunidau's daughter told the court her mother was "unselfish, kind, considerate and caring".
She was a "strong, proud" Fijian woman, her daughter said in his victim impact statement.
"The effect of losing my mother is something I will live with my entire life."
Hussein will spend at least 13 years behind bars.
Following the murder, the Canterbury District Health Board launched a full review into Hillmorton Hospital's secure unit.
