ROTORUA - New Zealand's longest-serving prisoner, Dean Wickliffe, stared ahead sullenly and impassively as he was acquitted yesterday of a murder for which he has already served 16 months in prison.
His only concession to the verdict was a slight nod to Justice Paterson and one to the jury in the
High Court at Rotorua before being led away.
Wickliffe returns to Paremoremo Prison because the parole he was granted for his 1972 life sentence for killing a Wellington jeweller was recalled. A hearing soon will decide whether he will be released.
Wickliffe was first handed a prison sentence as a teenager and has spent more than three decades of his 50 years in prison, for three aggravated robberies, a murder, which was later reduced to manslaughter, and the 1996 murder of Richard Bluett - which was later overturned and a new trial ordered.
Wickliffe had been out of prison for only 15 months when he was arrested in December 1996 for the murder of Mr Bluett, who was shot at pointblank range on the porch of his Mt Maunganui home on July 7, 1996, and died in hospital 12 days later.
Two defence witnesses said another witness, Lance Williams, who was given immunity from prosecution, had confessed to the murder.
In Wickliffe's defence, Kevin Ryan, QC, said he had been scapegoated by police for the murder and suggested Mr Bluett could have been killed by Williams or gang members.
