Frederick Hobson has been sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 15 years for the murder of Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel.
He was also given a prison sentence of four-and-a-half years for aggravated robbery, which will be served concurrently with the murder sentence.
Another man, Shane Tane, was given a prison sentence of four-and-a-half years for aggravated robbery.
Patel was stabbed to death outside the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham in November 2022.
Two men charged over the crime appeared in Auckland's High Court on Wednesday morning.
Hobson had pleaded guilty to the murder of Patel, while Tane had pleaded guilty to an aggravated robbery charge.
A third man - Henry Ford - was granted a stay of proceedings due to being terminally ill.
Hobson, 36, was deported from Australia as a convicted criminal. He described himself in a letter to court as a meth addict who eventually became homeless after being deported.
Victim impact statements from four members of Patel's family were read to the court.
"The grief has devastated me. I cry all the time thinking of him and only have his memories to get me through. I want the offenders punished for killing," a statement from Patel's mother said.
"I want my son back, I don't want anything else."
Patel's death sparked protests by dairy owners over the safety of small businesses, while at the time, more than $100,000 was raised for his family, with more than 2000 people donating since his death.
Patel's father was among those who in June last year went to Parliament to demand action from the then-Labour Government to prevent further tragedies.
Kalidas Patel was among the representatives from the Dairy and Small Business Owners Group and gave an emotional speech, saying: "I already lost my son, I lost already my only son at least this incident shouldn't happen again in the country."
