The man who murdered Orkney backpacker Karen Aim in New Zealand has been denied parole for the fifth time.
Jahche Broughton was only 14-years-old when he brutally attacked the 26-year-old, striking her with a baseball bat as she walked home from a night out with friends in Taupo in January 2008.
Miss Aim had been attending a party and was on her way back to her accommodation when she crossed paths with Broughton, who had been vandalising windows at a nearby school with a bat.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.
Broughton’s sentence included a minimum non-parole period of 12-and-a-half years.
In August 2020, Broughton appeared before the New Zealand Parole Board, seeking early release.
However, his request was denied after a psychological assessment conducted earlier that year concluded that he “posed a very high risk of violent reoffending”.
Several days before Broughton murdered Miss Aim, he attacked another woman, Zara Schofield, so badly with a rock that she needed 30 staples and extra stitches to her head.
Broughton claims Karen Aim’s murder was ‘an accident’
It was not until his third appearance before the country’s parole board in 2023 that he gave some insight into why he murdered the Scottish backpacker.
The parole board’s report said: “He described some of the background and reasons for the attacks as a lack of understanding of who he was, being brought up with no boundaries and the abuse of drugs and alcohol.
“He said he thought at the time of the violence, that violence with regard to both of these women was, in his words, ‘normal’ and that the offending was ‘an accident’.”
New Zealand Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young added: “In addition, he continues to maintain that there was no sexual aspect to the murder despite what seems to be clear evidence.”
Karen Aim’s killer ‘complaining about his circumstances in prison’
Last month, it’s understood Broughton appeared before the board for a fifth time.
A report has revealed how his latest request for an early release was rejected as there is still serious concerns regarding his progress “or lack of it”.
It states: “He has spent quite some time complaining about his circumstances in prison.
“Our concern is more that he is focusing on what he considers unfair treatment by corrections issues rather than his rehabilitation.”
Broughton will next see the board in October 2025. The board said: “We hope by then that Mr Broughton has thought about the discussion we had with him today regarding his focus on how unfairly he and his whanau (family) are being treated.”
In early 2018, Miss Aim’s father Brian – who passed away later that year – said he would campaign against any bid for freedom by Broughton.
He told the Press and Journal that he felt a “duty to try to keep him behind bars”.
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