Convicted murderer and former Dunedin psychiatrist Colin Bouwer will now serve at least 15 years in jail following a Court of Appeal decision in Wellington today.
The court upheld an appeal by the solicitor-general and added two years to Bouwer's original 13-year term for murdering his wife Annette by poisoning her.
In
its 15-page decision the court also dismissed an appeal by Bouwer, 51, against his conviction.
Crown counsel Simon France said the original minimum non-parole period of 13 years was "insufficient to reflect society's denunciation of this crime".
Mr France noted the extended period over which South African-born Dr Bouwer had "renewed his commitment" to kill his wife and, accordingly, the period over which she suffered.
He said the crime had considerable planning and "various measures were also taken by him (Dr Bouwer) to avoid detection".
Mrs Bouwer died in January 2000.
Defence lawyer Anne Stevens said murder was a horrific crime and it was difficult to scale or rate them according to years in prison.
But she said sentencing judge Justice Panckhurst made his decision after five weeks of evidence.
Bouwer, the former head of psychological medicine at Otago University, was found guilty of poisoning Mrs Bouwer with drugs that replicated symptoms of a rare kind of tumour.
By feeding Mrs Bouwer hypoglycaemic drugs, he was able induce hypoglycaemic comas, the cause of which was not picked up by extensive testing.
The Appeal Court judgment said Bouwer created a facade of general illness in his wife, obtained drugs to poison his wife, and let people believe she was mentally unstable.
He induced or allowed her to undergo an unnecessary operation, distracted the medical team from the real reason for her illness, and used various measures to avoid detection.
- NZPA
