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Offender Databases Richard Barton

Richard Barton

Alias

.

Offences

Murder of Hamilton 15 year old Dylan Jenkins by stabbing in November 2005

Victims

Dylan Jenkins

Offender Affiliations

Keri Snowden

Gang affiliations

Bloods

Age

Born 1990

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to life imprisonment (10 years minimum) in September 2006
Eligible for parole from November 2015

Background
From the Waikato Times September 2006
Two mothers sat in a Hamilton court this week - one to hear about the last moments in her son's life and the other to see her son jailed. Mere Mason wants to forgive her son's killer. She prays and asks God to do it for her. But when 15-year-old Richard Barton's grandmother asked her if she would ever be able to forgive him, she struggled. "I can say it out of my mouth but in my heart it is still scratchy. It's hard to fully give it over and let it go." Barton was sent to jail yesterday for at least 10 years for the murder of fellow 15-year-old Dylan Jenkins. This week Dylan's mother and Barton's mother sat a few seats apart in Hamilton District Court.

For five days they sat through Barton's trial until the verdict yesterday afternoon that, in the end, came quickly and without ceremony. "Do you find the accused guilty or not guilty of murder?" asked the registrar. "Guilty," replied the jury foreman. Justice Venning immediately sentenced Barton to life in prison, without further comment. Dylan was stabbed to death by Barton outside the Dey St badminton hall last November. Barton, according to one of his friends, was "active" - or drunk - and bragging he had stabbed someone "for colours". Children, some just 10, saw the stabbing from a nearby playground.

To Mere Mason it seems like her son was murdered because of a "piece of rag". Dylan had a blue and white bandana tied around his wrist when he encountered Barton. To those in the know the bandana represented the "Westside". It's an American term to describe rappers who come from the US' West Coast. When he tagged something it would always have "Westside" on it. His mother says he was very arty. But Barton supported "Eastside" - the US East Coast rappers. Mere Mason says Dylan didn't have the bandana when he left home that November day. He borrowed it from a friend, she says. "It was just a piece of cloth. To me it was just like it all happened over a piece of rag."

Dylan's last word was "Westside". Mere Mason thinks under different circumstances Dylan and Barton might have been mates. Barton celebrated his 15th birthday four days before he stabbed Dylan. He didn't live with his mother, and for that - and for him now being in jail - she blames Child Youth and Family. She had Barton when she, too, was 15. Custody battles followed with the man who brought Barton up. She had him for holidays and the last time she saw him was shortly before his 15th birthday. She doesn't know much about Eastside and Westside rap cultures and she doesn't think her son, or Dylan, knew much about it either. "I lost my son to the system," she says.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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