Teina Pora, convicted of raping and murdering South Auckland woman Susan Burdett, has failed to overturn the ruling.
The Court of Appeal rejected a plea that a miscarriage of justice had occurred because the defence could not mention that serial rapist Malcolm Rewa preferred to rape alone due to embarrassment about his erectile dysfunction.
Both Rewa and Pora were convicted of the rape and murder of Ms Burdett in 1992.
Justice Peter Blanchard said the issue was never mentioned for the trial judge to rule on.
Pora's counsel, Marie Dyhrberg, had said the judge's ruling about not revealing Rewa's modus operandi meant she could not ask about the 19 out of 27 rape cases of Rewa's where he had suffered erectile dysfunction.
But she accepted responsibility for failing to raise the point with the trial judge.
Judge in a quandry over Pora sentence
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