Auckland, Sept 18 NZPA - A Hungarian dive master will spend at least eight years in prison for a brutal bashing which killed a 69-year-old man in Auckland in 2007.

Ferdinand Ambach, 31, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for the manslaughter of Ronald Brown in suburban Onehunga.

A jury had earlier found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Justice Helen Winkelmann said the jury must have found him not guilty of murder due to the provocation of an alleged sexual assault.

But she said the provocation was extremely low and he had shown no remorse.

She sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of eight years.