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A teenager who killed another teen by punching him in the head has appealed his sentence of three years imprisonment, arguing that the punishment he received is “not a good fit” for the crime he committed.��

Armani Williams, 18, was jailed for three years after fatally punching 18-year-old Levi Haami at the Countdown car park on Moorhouse Ave on December 4, 2021. Williams was 16 at the time.��

Williams had been driving past Haami, who was urinating in the car park when Haami questioned Williams about looking at his private parts.��

Williams then approached Haami and delivered the fatal blow to the left side of his mouth, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the concrete.��

Haami suffered catastrophic brain injuries and died in Christchurch Hospital the next day.��

In May last year, Williams pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, which had been downgraded from murder at the High Court in Christchurch, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment.��

On Thursday, at the High Court at Christchurch, Williams appealed his sentence through his lawyer Ethan Huda, arguing that the five-year starting point the judge adopted at his sentencing was too high and that his “youth and background merit higher reductions”.��

Huda referred to teen killer Mark Nagel, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment with the option to apply for home detention last month for killing 61-year-old Anthony Kelly with a martial arts-style kick to his head.��

He said that in Nagel’s case it was a group attack against an elderly person, where the judge took a starting point of four-and-a-half years imprisonment.��

In Williams’ case, however, the punch was delivered to a young man who was “not frail” and he received a starting point of five years imprisonment.��

Levi Haami died after being punched in a Countdown carpark in Christchurch in December 2021. Photo / Georgia O'Connor-Harding��

“There’s a symmetry in these cases,” Huda said, pointing out that the sentencing judge for Nagel arrived at that starting point by assessing a number of relevant cases.��

However, Crown prosecutor Kerry White said Williams accepted a sentence indication that stated a starting point of five years would be adopted.��

She said Williams approached Haami with a “high level of aggression” and anger before delivering a forceful blow to the left side of his mouth.��

While White accepted that Williams had a difficult upbringing, she said there were periods when he was in the care of a family who loved and cared for him.��

Huda said his client was 16 at the time of the offence, was diagnosed with ADHD and had told a probation officer he “deserves to be locked up” for what he did.��

Huda said neurological development may not be complete until the age of 25 and said Williams received a 10 per cent discount for his youth when a discount of at least 15 per cent should have been available.��

“One young man looking at another young man urinating, it’s silly, it’s sad,” Huda said.��

Huda argued that a shorter term of imprisonment is warranted for his client due to his youth and background factors.��

The public gallery was packed with family and friends of Haami, wearing shirts with his face on.��

The panel of judges thanked Haami’s family and friends for attending court and acknowledged how difficult it is to sit through a hearing of this kind. They reserved their decision.��

Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at ��һ�ǿ�����. She joined ��һ�ǿ����� in 2022. Before that, she was at the��Christchurch Star.��