Murder appeal rejected

Lawyer’s claims bizarre

A LAUNCESTON murderer who fatally stomped his friend’s head has lost an appeal bid to overturn his conviction and sentence following a bizarre court address by lawyer Mai Truong.

Anthony Colin Finnegan is serving a 21-year sentence for murdering 56-year-old Peter John Fitzgerald after a night of drinking at the victim’s Summerhill unit in December 2016.

Ms Truong, based in Sydney, finished arguing in the Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday that Finnegan, then 35, was a “scapegoat”.

She said he wasn’t strong enough to have inflicted the fatal blows alone as he’d recently broken his leg, was using crutches, and was “highly intoxicated” on alcohol and the drug ice.

“He’s not Hulk Hogan … he is not WWF. He is not, you know, some gladiator. He does not have muscles,” she said.

“Like, at least two people are let off, Your Honour, and that’s not justice — and I’m here to fight for justice.”

She argued two other men at the scene that night should be “dealt with” and that they had plenty of time to wash their “dirty, bloody hands” before emergency services arrived. “That is a bit ‘out there’ to maintain that Mr Finnegan had the strength and the mens rea (criminal intent) to do such an act,” she said. “It seems to me that someone is lying.”

Ms Truong argued that it seemed “a bit odd” that a man at the scene was “just sitting on the couch” throughout Finnegan’s attack.

She was unable to convince the court to accept a counsellor’s report about Finnegan’s “deeper issues” to potentially mitigate his sentence.

Chief Justice Alan Blow noted Finnegan’s trial lawyer, Greg Richardson, hadn’t made any submissions that Finnegan had the “slightest hint of mental illness” and that the barrister had done a “good job”.

Chief Justice Blow said prosecutor Jackie Hartnett wasn’t required to make submissions on the Crown’s behalf before dismissing the appeal, adding the court would publish its reasons at a later date.