Former Iraqi soldier says rape trial judge was biased

An Iraqi refugee has accused the judge at his trial for the rape of a 20-year-old student in a Porirua hostel last year of "racial bias".

Akeel Hassan Abbas Al Baiiaty, 35, a former Iraqi soldier, was sentenced in March to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole jail term of seven years for the abduction, rape and assault of the woman in January 2004.

After he was convicted, it was revealed he was a serial rapist who had preyed on New Zealand women since he entered the country as a quota refugee from Iraqi in 1994. In 1997 he attacked three Auckland prostitutes and was jailed for nine years.

In the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday before justices Susan Glazebrook, Ron Young and John Doogue, Al Baiiaty's lawyer, Bryan Yeoman, said he had been instructed to appeal against the conviction on the grounds the trial judge, John Walker, had been "biased" against him.

In a written submission, Mr Yeoman said Al Baiiaty's contention was that the judge had made several "prejudicial remarks" in summing up the case to the jury, particularly the way in which he quoted the complainant, which gave the impression he regarded her evidence as "compelling and credible".

"The appellant comes from a particular background that makes it difficult for him to accept that the oral evidence of a woman could be the basis for a conviction," Mr Yeoman told the court.

Al Baiiaty claimed the judge was biased against him because he was an Iraqi citizen. He also appealed against the sentence on the grounds it was "manifestly excessive". The sentencing judge, Justice Warwick Gendall, had placed undue emphasis on the appellant's past convictions and was also biased against him.

However, Crown lawyer Matthew Downs said the judge's summing-up was "clear, concise, free from error and essentially textbook in nature".

Al Baiiaty's citizenship was revoked in October last year and it is expected he will be deported after serving his sentence

The court reserved its judgment.

- NZPA