Kinghorn, then 28, received a non-parole period of 13 years when he was sentenced in the High Court at New Plymouth the following year.
He is now eligible for parole and made his first appearance before the board yesterday.
Anne Elizabeth McCullough was a much-loved wife, mother-of-two and friend to many.
Kinghorn told the board that leading up to the murder, he had adopted “evil ideologies”, was full of hate, living recklessly, isolating, and abusing alcohol and drugs.
It was brought on, he believed, by his self-hatred and fuelled by the music he was listening to, he said.
“I was fuelling my mind with hatred,” he told the Parole Board.
“A lot of my views that I had, in regards to listening to music, it was a lot of anti-Christ, or death metal, and I’d seemed to have adopted all of those things quite literally in my life.”
When asked how he related that to his offending, he said it was “very present” on the day.
He said, mixed with the substances he had taken, he experienced a “cocktail of rage”.
Jogger murdered and left in car
Kinghorn had been drinking and taking drugs overnight until around 8am on October 20, 2012, when he parted ways with a friend and said he was going to “find a chick or find a hook-up”.
Hours later, he went to an adult shop and purchased items, including lubricant and party pills.
He then drove past McCullough, who was exercising along Frankley Rd, before he turned his car around and veered on to the grass verge and hit her.
The police cordon at the Meeting of the Waters scenic reserve in New Plymouth, Taranaki, where Anne Elizabeth McCullough’s body was found on the back seat of Matthew David James Kinghorn’s vehicle. Photo / David Fairey
Kinghorn stopped the car, picked up McCullough, who was knocked unconscious on impact, and placed her on the back seat.
After driving along various country roads outside New Plymouth, and spending time parked in a paddock, he abandoned the vehicle at the Meeting of the Waters scenic reserve.
Kinghorn went to a nearby house and asked the occupant to phone the police and his mother.
McCullough was found dead in the back seat of Kinghorn’s vehicle shortly afterwards by a member of the public.
Kinghorn went on to plead guilty to her murder.
Crown alleged sex offending was motive
At his sentencing, Justice Rodney Hansen rejected Crown submissions that Kinghorn should receive a minimum non-parole period of at least 17 years.
The Crown had presented evidence alleging Kinghorn had murdered McCullough in the course of sexually offending against her.
While there was no evidence that a sexual assault had occurred, the Crown argued it had been Kinghorn’s intention.
However, Justice Hansen found the evidence to be insufficient.
He landed on a 15-year minimum term of imprisonment, and then allowed two years’ credit for several mitigating factors, including Kinghorn’s guilty plea and an appearance of genuine remorse.
The Crown went on to appeal against the sentence, but the Court of Appeal upheld Justice Hansen’s sentencing decision.
Matthew David James Kinghorn was sentenced in the High Court at New Plymouth in 2013. Photo / Tara Shaskey
At the Parole Board hearing, Kinghorn did not seek an early release and read aloud a letter he had penned.
He described murdering McCullough, and taking her from her family, as a “disgraceful, horrible, cowardly act”.
“Every day I think of how they must feel. Even the smallest joy in their day can be crushed by the thought of what I did to their loved one,” he said.
“I don’t know how I can ever express how truly sorry I am.”
Kinghorn claimed he had done “a lot of soul-searching” over the years, trying to rid himself of the ideologies he once lived by, and that he was a different person now.
“I now live a lot more peaceful within myself, keeping busy with study, work, fitness and spiritual meditation.”
However, the board heard that up until two years ago, Kinghorn was experiencing “violent fantasies”.
He described feeling stressed and disempowered, and having “spirals of fantasies” about hurting people who were hurting him or others.
“I didn’t know how to talk about it at that point,” he said.
Kinghorn said he would isolate himself in his cell, pace for hours, not sleep and fantasise about “expressing [his] hurt on them, normally in the way of restraining them or breaking a bone, or something like that”.
He believed he had now resolved those issues.
The board heard that Kinghorn has engaged in treatment while in prison but further rehabilitative work was required, which he said he was committed to.
Kinghorn was working behind the wire and was described as “polite and compliant”.
He said he accepted his life needed to be of complete sobriety, and he no longer listened to death metal music.
The board asked Kinghorn how it could be assured the issues he had faced were resolved to the point where it was safe for him to return to the community.
He stressed he had put in work to understand himself and had learned tools to cope better with his emotions and certain situations.
The board said Kinghorn still had work to do and supported him engaging in a further treatment programme, to be determined by the prison.
He would be seen by the board again in another 12 months.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 and is currently an assistant editor and reporter for the Open Justice team. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.