NORFOLK ISLAND - Lawyers for New Zealand man Glenn McNeill will lodge an appeal against his conviction for the murder of Janelle Patton on Norfolk Island.
After a month-long trial, a Supreme Court jury yesterday found the 29-year-old chef guilty of the 2002 stabbing.
But McNeill's solicitor, John
Brown, today told a press conference on the island that his client was "very disappointed" by the verdict and maintained his innocence.
"Our client and his family are naturally disappointed at the result of the trial and they've instructed me to lodge an appeal at the earliest date," Mr Brown said.
"My client maintains his innocence and his family stands by him and supports him."
Mr Brown was accompanied by McNeill's mother Lynn and partner, Shelley Hooper, the mother of his two young children.
Both women -- who had remained positive throughout the trial -- were plainly showing the strain of recent events and did not speak to assembled journalists.
Speaking on their behalf, Mr Brown said: "The loss of a daughter would always be hard to bear; one cannot help having sympathy for the Patton family."
He also thanked local police and the Norfolk Island community "for their understanding and kindness in what has been and continues to be a very trying time".
Mr Brown said the appeal would "largely centre on complex points of law", including the admissibility of evidence such as the videotaped interview McNeill gave to police after he was arrested last year at his home near Nelson.
In the interview, which was shown to the jury, McNeill said he stabbed Ms Patton after accidentally running her over.
But in an unsworn statement to the court, he told the jury he had not killed the 29-year-old and had been suffering mental health problems when he spoke to police.
McNeill is due to be sentenced on Norfolk Island, but an appeal would be heard by the full bench of the Federal Court in Sydney.
Mr Brown was hopeful arrangements could be made for McNeill to serve his sentence in New Zealand, if an appeal was unsuccessful.
Asked about the year his client spent in a Sydney jail awaiting trial, Mr Brown said: "I wouldn't say to you that Glenn has found it anything other than very stressful, but he's been supported strongly by his family and friends and that support continues."
- AAP
