Malcolm Rewa, pictured in 2019. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
An appeal by serial rapist Malcolm Rewa in relation to his conviction for the murder of Susan Burdett has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Rewa was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 after a jury found him guilty of bludgeoning Burdett to death in her Auckland home in 1992.
The 2019 trial was the third time he stood trial for Burdett's murder.
Rewa fought for a retrial of his conviction with the Court of Appeal, which was dismissed in January 2023.
Rewa's lawyers had argued his trial lawyer, Paul Chambers, was "incompetent".
They also argued a witness, whose name and other details have been suppressed by the court, and who was in a sexual relationship with Susan Burdett, had motive to kill her.
After failing to have his conviction overturned Rewa later applied to appeal in the Supreme Court, calling his trial a miscarriage of justice.
A decision from the Supreme Court said his appeal was filed nine months late, but due to the extensive material to consider, this was allowed.
However, his appeal has been dismissed as the Supreme Court said there was no risk of a miscarriage of justice.
Teina Pora was wrongly imprisoned for 20 years for the rape and murder of Burdett.
Pora was convicted in 1994, found guilty again at a retrial in 2000, but eventually the convictions were quashed by the Privy Council in 2004.
In 2019, Rewa was jailed for the crime.
Rewa is serving a sentence of preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years for rape and other offending against 25 women.
