Christchurch Edgeware Rd double killer says he didn’t stop to think before prison assault
Thursday, 2 July 2026
The man who murdered two Christchurch teenagers by driving into a crowd outside an Edgeware Rd party says he did not use the anger-management strategies he had spent months learning before taking part in a violent prison assault last year.
Lipine Sila was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for murdering 16-year-olds Hannah Rossiter and Jane Young in May 2007.
The pair were leaving a birthday party on Edgeware Rd when Sila, then 23, deliberately drove his girlfriend’s Honda into a crowd after an earlier fight, killing the two teenagers and seriously injuring eight others.
Sila, now 41, appeared before the Parole Board on May 26 after completing about 50 one-to-one sessions with a psychologist aimed at addressing his violent behaviour. But the board heard he became involved in a group assault on another prisoner last August, admitting he reacted after seeing a friend on the ground rather than stopping to think about what he had learned.
His latest parole report, released publicly this week, described Sila jumping over a gate to join the assault and “king hit” the victim several times before pepper spray was used to stop the incident.
Sila told the board he knew disagreements could trigger his anger, but admitted he “did not really think about what he had learned with the psychologist when he reacted as he did”, the report states.
The board said the assault was “of significant concern”.
The hearing heard Sila’s behaviour had otherwise improved since early 2025. He had been downgraded from a high to a low-medium security classification, although he also received misconducts in December for possessing unauthorised clothing and sparring with other inmates.
A psychologist now assesses Sila as being of medium risk of violent reoffending. The focus now is on maintaining a safety plan to help him recognise and manage situations likely to trigger violence.
If released, Sila would be deported to Samoa, where he plans to live with family in his home village. The board heard community support in Samoa could be limited and further work was needed to establish what professional and family support would be available.
It concluded Sila had made progress but remained an undue risk, directing him to develop or recover a safety plan, involve family members in reintegration planning and return for another hearing in November.
At his first parole hearing in May 2024, Sila maintained he had “no intention to hurt anybody” in the Edgeware Rd incident and claimed he had tried to steer away from the crowd.
He also admitted attacking a prison officer earlier that year after becoming angry when he could not speak to a senior Corrections officer.
The latest report noted Sila had racked up about 30 misconducts in prison and had done little rehabilitation work during his 17 years behind bars.
He later began one-to-one sessions with a psychologist after prison staff decided he was not suitable for a specialist violence programme because of cognitive difficulties.