Murderer and rapist Richard Genge loses appeal bid

Richard Genge was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years.

Convicted rapist and murderer Richard Lyall Genge has lost his latest bid to appeal against his conviction, more than 20 years later.

Genge was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years after the brutal September 1994 fatal attack on 22-year-old Christchurch woman Anne Maree Ellens in the grounds of Christchurch East primary school.

While she was heavily-intoxicated, Genge and co-accused Samuel Kirner and Michael October took her into the school before raping her and savagely beating her to death. Her semi-naked body was found on the school steps the next morning.

The three men were jailed in October 1995.

Genge filed appeals shortly after his conviction but they were abandoned before any hearings.

The killer, described in the past as being "evil", has lost subsequent appeals that he was locked up unlawfully.

Now, the Court of Appeal has rejected his latest attempt.

Genge, now 43, had applied for orders setting aside the notice of abandonment and granting him leave to pursue the appeals earlier abandoned.

He also sought leave to bring appeals out of time in relation to the murder conviction and rape sentence.

Genge claimed that his decision to withdraw the appeals were affected by a wrongful process employed at the time by the Court of Appeal in dealing with criminal appeals reliant on legal aid - a process later described by the Privy Council in R v Taito as "a fundamentally flawed and unlawful system".

But in a decision just released, the Court of Appeal has rejected his case.

"The delay in bringing the appeal is extreme, Mr Genge has no explanation for it, and he has not identified a viable ground of appeal," the judgment concludes.

Genge remains a serving prisoner. He is eligible for parole but has been declined in the past.