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Offender Databases Raymond Meynell

Raymond Owen Meynell

Alias

.

Offences

Beat a 17 month old Huntly toddler to death in February 1998
Earlier assaulted the same child and his mother
Also 3 previous convictions for child assault and male assaults female

Victims

Nivek Dodunski

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1973

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Given a "life" sentence in March 1999
Given a concurrent 4 year sentence in April 1999
Eligible for parole February/March 2008

Background
From the Evening Post 23/04/1999
Convicted murderer Raymond Owen Meynell was yesterday sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton for assaulting a toddler whom he later murdered. Meynell, 26, dressed in a boiler suit and handcuffed to a prison guard, smirked as Justice Penlington sentenced to him to a total of four years in jail to be served concurrently with his life sentence for murdering Nivek Dodunski.Last year, he pleaded guilty to three charges of assaulting his partner Georgina Dodunski, one of assaulting her son Nivek with intent to injure and one of assaulting a child under 14. Crown prosecutor Ross Douch said Meynell had three previous convictions for assaulting a child and past convictions of assaulting females. In March he was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of murdering 17-month-old Nivek at Huntly on February 9 last year. He had hit Nivek so hard it split the toddler's liver in two.

Meynell has appealed the murder conviction. Yesterday the court heard how he meted out violence to Nivek and his mother in the 10 days leading up the child's death. On January 31, he threw the toddler against the bathroom wall because he had cried in the bath. He swore and made racist comments to Nivek, calling him a "wimp". When Ms Dodunski protested, he said the child needed toughening up and gave her a black eye. A week later, he got the pigeon-toed toddler to walk towards him and kicked his legs from underneath. When Ms Dodunski complained, he hit her face and arms and pulled the phone from the wall when she tried to use it. The day before Nivek's death, Meynell told the toddler if he didn't eat his dinner he would beat his mother. The child ate most but not all of his meal and Meynell punched his partner in the eye. "All these assaults involved gratuitous violence," Justice Penlington said yesterday. Meynell had used "a crude and illogical form of discipline", the judge said.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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