Killer who beat Scots backpacker to death with baseball bat denied parole for fifth time

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A killer who beat a Scottish backpacker to death in New Zealand has been refused parole for the fifth time.

Jahche Broughton was just 14 when he brutally murdered Karen Aim, from Orkney, to death with a baseball bat in January 2008.

The 26-year-old was visiting Taupō on a trip to New Zealand and was walking back to her accommodation from a party when she met Broughton. He attacked her with a bat that he had been using to smash up windows. As she lay seriously injured on the street, the evil thug continued hitting her, fracturing her skull and causing extensive brain injuries. She later died in hospital.

In 2009 he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 12-and-a-half years. He became eligible for parole in 2020, however it has now been revealed that his latest bid for freedom has been rejected.

The New Zealand Herald reports the prison board declined Broughton's early release from prison on the basis they still had serious concerns about his “understanding of what led up to the violence" and his progress "or lack of it".

The decision read: "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.”

Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young said: "We talked with Mr Broughton for some time about the offending.

“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’.

Since being jailed more than 15 years ago, Broughton has completed 11 individual sessions with a psychologist. It was believed he gained some intellectual insight from the sessions, but still lacked emotional insight into his offending.

The report continued: "He continued to deny any sexual aspect to the offending which, as we have previously observed, seems contrary to the facts surrounding the murder."

Last year, Broughton was denied parole after he was caught with a phone, charger and sim card. He will be considered for parole again in October 2025.

Broughton had been smashing windows with a baseball bat at the local school before he killed Karen in a random attack.

A police officer who was responding to an alarm at the school found Karen minutes after the attack in a pool of blood.

Broughton, who pleaded guilty over Karen's murder admitted he was at the scene when the murder occurred but claimed that a 'gang prospect' named Brian was 'mainly responsible'.

Several days earlier Broughton had bashed another woman so badly with a rock that she needed 30 staples and extra stitches to her head.

Karen’s father, Brian, who died ten years after his daughter’s murder, described her as “a very bubbly, bright, cheerful character” who “put a ray of sunshine into every room.”

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