KEY POINTS:
A man who went on trial three times before being convicted of raping his wife and deported to Fiji has had his appeal dismissed.
The man, who cannot be named as the identity of his wife is protected, was convicted in 1994 of raping his wife.
At his first trial he had been found guilty but successfully appealed, leading to a second trial where there was a hung jury, and then to his third trial where he was convicted.
After completing his sentence he was sent back to Fiji but appealed again.
The Court of Appeal has now dismissed his appeal, conducted in his absence, after he was refused permission to return to New Zealand.
He had claimed there was a miscarriage of justice at his third trial because his lawyer did not call medical evidence about his mobility following an ankle operation and his physical ability to rape.
But the man disappeared before he was able to be cross-examined about his appeal, so the Court of Appeal rejected it, saying his evidence was the only basis for challenging the conviction.
It said he had known the hearing date and had made himself unavailable.
"This appeal has already had a chequered history and, in the circumstances, no further indulgence should be afforded," the court ruled.
- NZPA
