The mother of murdered British backpacker Grace Millane said she will be forever “haunted” by the violent end her daughter met, as her Tinder date murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment. The 28-year-old New Zealand man, who retained temporary name suppression, was sentenced to life imprisonment at a New Zealand court on Friday morning, with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. Millane had been in New Zealand for less than two weeks when she matched with her killer on Tinder. She was murdered on December 1, 2018, the night they first met in person, during what the court heard was rough sex in his hotel room after cocktails at downtown Auckland bars. Before the sentencing was read out, Millane’s mother Gillian Millane made a moving victim impact statement via audio-video link from England. Gillian told the court she would be forever “haunted” by the way her daughter, whom she considered her best friend, had died. She said she experienced suicidal thoughts in the months after, and that she feared turning on the radio lest a song reminding her of her daughter be played.
