Tony Robertson appeared for sentencing in the Auckland High Court for the rape and murder of Blessie Gotingco. Photo/File
Tony Robertson appeared for sentencing in the Auckland High Court for the rape and murder of Blessie Gotingco. Photo/File
An appeal by the man convicted of raping and murdering Blessie Gotingco has been dismissed.
Tony Robertson had presented a cavalcade of complaints to the Court of Appeal, complaining his conviction for the deadly attack was unsound and the minimum 24-year sentence was unfair.
Among Robertson's complaints were claims hadcomplained the prosecution misled the jury judge's summing up was biased, that the media was against him, that lawyers representing his interests made mistakes and that he wasn't given enough of a chance to prepare his defence.
In August the 28-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum-non-parole period of 24 years for murdering Mrs Gotingco and preventive detention for raping the mother and grandmother.
His the crimes against the 56-year-old came only months after Robertson was released from prison for similarly depraved offending.
On May 24 last year, Robertson hit Ms Gotingco while she was walking home down a Birkdale street.
Seeing her motionless body on the road, Robertson scooped her up, bundled her into the back of his BMW and took her to his nearby apartment just in time to make his curfew.
He was being monitored by Corrections via a GPS anklet at the time.
Once he was in the garage, beneath his home, the defendant sexually abused the injured woman before strangling her, stabbing her and slashing her throat.
Early the following morning, he wrapped Ms Gotingco's body in a bed sheet and took her to Eskdale cemetery down the road where he dumped her body in thick bush.
It is understood Robertson is appealing at least one of his convictions and his sentence.
Mrs Gotingco's family did not want to comment on the development.
