Life in jail with a minimum non-parole period of 14 years has been handed down to one of two men sentenced today over the murder of Tauranga businessman Gary Kimura.

Te Puke man Witeri Neketai, 35, appeared in the High Court at Rotorua today where he was sentenced to life in jail by Justice Timothy Brewer.

From left, Witeri Neketai (white shirt) and Joseph Rewiri (far right) in the dock at the High Court in Rotorua today.

He was found guilty by a jury in July of the murder of 44-year-old Gary, who was beaten to death outside his Margaret Road home in Bellevue in 2011.

Auckland man Joseph Rewiri, 45, who previously admitted to manslaughter, was sentenced to nine years' jail today.

This sentence is to be served concurrently with Rewiri's current life sentence he received in 2008 for the murder of Rotorua man Peter Franklyn, shot dead in 2006.

Gary Kimura died on his birthday on November 16, 2011, about six weeks after he was knocked unconscious outside his Margaret Road home by Neketai over a $35,000 debt owed to a prisoner Rewiri was serving with.

Gary Kimura was beaten outside his Margaret Road home in October 2011.

During sentencing today, Judge Brewer heard how Rewiri was looking for a way of getting his daughter some money to pay for her to go into medicine or law, when another prisoner mentioned a drug debt owed by the deceased.

Rewiri took the opportunity to get a share of the debt and enlisted the help of Neketai to do this. He gained access to a cellphone in jail and began sending Neketai text messages telling him to visit Kimura and collect the debt.

On October 5, Neketai and Tauranga man, Taonui Hiku, 27, went to Gary Kimura's home in Margaret Road where Neketai used Hiku to lure him outside.

Hiku knocked on the door and acted friendly to Gary's daughter who answered, requesting to talk to her father.

When outside Neketai punched Gary in the face sending him stumbling backwards onto the concrete where he cracked his head. Hiku was found not guilty of manslaughter by a jury in July.

The court heard how when Gary failed to return inside the house, his wife looked out to see her husband lying in a pool of blood on the driveway.

"I'll never forget that day, it's the day my whole world shattered," Gary's wife of 20 years and mother of their six children told the court today.

Tears rolled down her face as she recalled looking out the window and seeing her husband.

"I was shocked. My husband had been assaulted in broad daylight. How could anyone have done this.

"I feel violated by this senseless act of violence. When I was told by the doctors he could die, I just went numb. It's a worst nightmare you can't prepare for.

"When Gary passed away I felt like I died with him."

The 44-year-old owner of Gary's Tyres in Sulphur Point was transported first to Tauranga Hospital then onto Waikato Hospital.

In court Gary Kimura's father also recalled the night he heard his son had been beaten.

"I received a phone call from my daughter who said he had been smashed up. After several hours and a sleepless night I arrived at Waikato Hospital to see my only son lying in bed with tubes coming out of him.

"Why did this have to happen?”

Gary was later transferred back to Tauranga Hospital where he died on November 16.

Friends and family of joined his father in a waiata and prayer as he finished reading his victim impact statement as Neketai and Rewiri stood in the docks.

The court was told how both Neketai and Rewiri were remorseful for their actions, and how it was never either's intention to kill Gary.

"Neketai has had a lot of time to reflect on the tragedy he has caused the Kimura family," said Neketai's lawyer Tony Balme.

"He now has to live with this for the rest of his days."

In his sentencing, Judge Brewer took into account all aggravating factors of the attack and said although there was no intent to kill Gary, there was little doubt violence was intended.

Judge Brewer said the incident was all about money and the blow to the head was what killed Gary.

"It is now up to the parole board to determine if you are eligible for parole when you minimum sentence is up."

Gary's family responded to the sentencing by saying goodbye to the two offenders as they were escorted from the dock by correction staff.