A Northland man's second attempt to appeal his conviction on a charge of murdering his partner has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Viliami Fungavaka, 48, drove his vehicle over partner Georgina Manuel twice after an argument in Kaitaia in August 2013. She died in Whangarei Hospital the next day from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
Fungavaka was found guilty of murder in the High Court at Whangarei in 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of at least 17 years. He faced an alternate charge of manslaughter.
His appeal against conviction for murder was rejected by the Court of Appeal in May. He then applied for leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.
His first ground of appeal was insufficient details of the murder charge were given by the Crown at trial but the Supreme Court said Fungavaka was made aware of the substance of the charge.