Four men were yesterday denied permission to have appeals heard by the new Supreme Court.
It took under five minutes for separate reserved judgments to be delivered by the court, which opened for business on July 1.
Applications for Supreme Court hearings were dismissed for Robert Frank Terry, of Reefton, who was convicted of threatening to kill; Alan Ivo Greer, of Levin, convicted of threatening to kill; Pourshad Marco Arvand, of Rotorua, convicted of sex offences; and Peter Francis Urbani, who sued a Dunedin funeral home claiming post traumatic stress and depression.
Arvand had been convicted in the High Court at Rotorua of 20 charges that included stupefying, sexually violating, indecently assaulting and kidnapping Asian women.
The Court of Appeal last October upheld one appeal by Arvand involving a young Japanese woman who did not return to New Zealand for the trial and whose evidence at depositions was unclear because of problems with a translator.
The Court of Appeal reduced Arvand's sentence from 17 years' jail to 13 years, but Arvand applied to the Supreme Court to appeal against the rest of his convictions.
Terry was convicted in 1998 of threatening to kill Buller District Council's general manager and was sentenced to nine months' jail.
It was alleged he threatened to explode a bomb at the council building in Westport, after a dispute over the sale of his property.
Greer, known as "Grub", was sentenced in the Wellington District Court this week to seven years' jail on four charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and six charges of indecent assault, involving two girl victims.
He applied to the Supreme Court for an appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal in March that dismissed his appeal against conviction on a charge of threatening to kill.
Urbani sued funeral home Gillions and Sons Ltd about 12 years after he worked there for seven months as a teenager, claiming the experience led to stress and depression.
The Supreme Court replaces England's Privy Council as the last avenue for appeals for New Zealand cases.
It has now dismissed a total of four applications for criminal case hearings, one has been abandoned and two are still being considered.
Three civil case applications have been dismissed and three are being considered.
- NZPA
Supreme Court refuses hearings
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