In his first job after graduating in the late 1970s, a fresh-faced Roger Laybourn got straight to work with a renowned human rights lawyer defending those arrested during one of the country’s darkest times, the Dawn Raids era.

Laybourn, who’s now 70 years old, had just returned from a year working in Samoa through Volunteer Services Abroad and had zero law contacts in hand, but he was well-known amongst the Samoan community.

The immigration dawn raids of the mid-1970s disproportionately targeted people of Pasifika heritage who were suspected of overstaying with respect to their visas.

Lawyer George Rosenburg put him under his wing and for the next two years, Laybourn was given a stark introduction to the practice.

“They were amazing times and dark times.

“I would be going to court with 30 clients and families,” he said, his eyes glistening as he recalled one of the country’s most shameful passages of history.

“It was heartbreaking.

“They were so respectful and trusting of the system that was absolutely screwing them, you know?

“That had a big impact on me in the sense of justice, the power of the state, and the vulnerability of people at a very early stage in my career.”

That career stretched 44 years and has mostly now come to an end; he has one last High Court sentencing in June which will be his final hoorah.

Recalling those early years fighting for the arrested Pasifika people during his farewell speech to friends, family and colleagues on a Friday night in Hamilton, the emotion again hit Laybourn.

His drive to see justice done was one of the reasons he was never reluctant to head to work.

“I have never doubted my passion for my job ... it just seems to come to me as natural as breathing oxygen [sic].”

After two years working with Rosenberg, he and his wife Bronwen decided to do their OE before returning to Hamilton about two and a half years later.

Laybourn has been at the centre of numerous high-profile cases, but one he proffers as a standout was that of Taumarunui man Ian Crutchley, who was charged with the murder of his terminally ill mother.

“Crutchley was an extraordinary success,” Laybourn beams. “The murder charge got thrown out at depositions by JPs [Justice of the Peace] in the Taumarunui District Court.”

“It was very satisfying because, let’s just say it was a very over-confident medical witness that the Crown had, and his evidence was flawed, and the Crown was absolutely stunned when they came back and said, ‘We’re dismissing the charge’.”

Defence lawyer Roger Laybourn (left) and Ian Crutchley celebrate the non-custodial sentence. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Crutchley was instead found guilty of attempted murder, but then the battle came in trying to keep him out of jail. He succeeded.

“I had huge sympathy for the predicament he found himself in. There was no premeditation.

“He was there at his mother’s bedside and she was in excruciating pain, likely to die within 48 hours, and he could not find any staff to assist with [ameliorating said pain].”

He wanted her morphine medication increased but he couldn’t find any staff in her rest home. He did it himself, which settled her, but saw her die a few hours later.

Crutchely never denied his actions but said he couldn’t handle her being made to suffer.

“He admitted it, he was very frank.

“He said, ‘My mother was suffering. I wouldn’t let an animal suffer like that, and this was my mother calling out for help, in pain’.

“I had real sympathy for him and a lot of respect for him because he never complained about his situation. I just wanted to give him justice, that was all.”

For some reason, he’d attracted his fair share of euthanasia cases over the years, and they were the type he found “particularly interesting because having those almost inevitably tragic human cases tested under the criminal justice system just don’t seem a right fit”.

“Technically, it’s clear if somebody kills somebody or assists them in their suicide, there are laws to say they’re serious criminal offences.

“But it almost inevitably involves acts of love and compassion.

Hamilton lawyer Roger Laybourn outside the High Court at Hamilton after successfully obtaining a manslaughter verdict for defendant Richard Coburn in March. He's flanked by lawyers Kerry Hadaway (left) and his daughter Rhianna Laybourn, who assisted him in the trial. Photo / Belinda Feek

“I think that’s where you find it very hard to sort of match someone who’s charged with a homicide who’s acting out of love and compassion.”

Other key cases include getting a 14-year-old off a murder charge involving Hamilton father Norman Kingi.

The girl was with another teen, two years older than her, breaking into cars on Ranui St. Kingi and his wife walked home to find the pair in their car.

A scuffle erupted and he was stabbed once in the heart. The pair were both charged, but the 16-year-old was ultimately found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for two years and 11 months. The 14-year-old girl was found not guilty.

Laybourn said the interesting aspect of that case was that she was probably the youngest female at the time to be charged with murder in New Zealand.

“The extraordinary thing about this, though, was the 16-year-old was really distraught about what happened. My client, at 14, said, ‘Look, it will be all right, I’ll tell them I did it’, and when interviewed by police confessed to murder.

“It’s not usual that a lawyer can get somebody completely acquitted after they’ve confessed to murder, but to be fair it became apparent to police that she was lying because there was never any blood on her, but they still decided to charge her.”

As for the justice system, it had changed, mostly for the better, but he says it is now “bloody bureaucratic”.

“So I’m a young lawyer and going up to court, and the court staff are mostly old, unenergetic white men, who I felt at the time didn’t like me because one, I was young, and two, I was for the defence.

“So getting co-operation from the court in those early days was a challenge, but the change has been remarkable.”

The court’s workload had increased but he’d been impressed to see the diversity in its staff; an increase in women and an increase in Māori and Pasifika staff had meant it wasn’t as fearsome as it once was.

But now it was time to focus on his family.

He’d been slowing down the past couple of years before picking up one final case, in which he was ably assisted by lawyers Kerry Hadaway and his daughter, Rhianna Laybourn.

The trio defended Richard Coburn, who was charged with the murder of his partner, Paige Tutemahurangi, in their Hamilton home last year.

Laybourn won, with the jury instead finding Coburn guilty of manslaughter. Coburn will be sentenced in June.

“About two months ago, I said to [my wife] Bronnie, ‘I don’t want to work anymore’. It came to me like ‘boom’ ... I now have six grandkids, and family life is pretty fantastic.”

Laybourn will now swap his gown and wig for a fishing rod and a good book.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and been a journalist for 20.