A teenager who high-fived a friend after fatally kicking a stranger to the head with a martial-arts style manoeuvre has been released from prison and placed on home detention. On Wednesday, Mark Nagel, 19, appeared in the High Court at Christchurch where he was resentenced to five months of home detention on an admitted charge of manslaughter following the death of Anthony Kelly.
The year-old died after being kicked in the face by the teen on October 18 last year. In October this year, Nagel was jailed for two years on the manslaughter charge but granted leave to apply for home detention by Justice Rachel Dunningham. She believed his time behind bars was enough deterrence and denunciation to warrant him being granted home detention and acknowledged he would be well supported at the proposed home detention address.
Most importantly, he would never be able to hug him or tell him he loves him. According to the summary of facts, Kelly was at the Christchurch Central Bus Exchange, where he was asked by security staff to leave about 6. Kelly walked north on Colombo St before walking into Cashel Mall. Nagel and his associates followed as they believed Kelly had been taking photos of them on his phone. About 6. Kelly tried to walk away but one of the group approached him, causing Kelly to swing a punch in self-defence.
The person then kicked Kelly in the shin. Nagel walked through the group, approached Kelly and kicked him in the face with his right foot, using a martial arts-style kick.
Kelly immediately lost consciousness and fell to the ground, where his head hit the pavement. Nagel and his group fled back towards the bus exchange. As they ran, Nagel high-fived his associate who had kicked Kelly in the shin, before the pair left on separate buses.
