Lundy case may go to Supreme Court
Double murderer Mark Lundy looks set to challenge his convictions in the Supreme Court.
In a decision released yesterday, the Court of Appeal rejected Lundy’s appeal against his convictions for murdering his wife Christine and 7-year-old daughter Amber.
But his lawyer, Jonathan Eaton, QC, said part of the court’s ruling about inadmissible evidence was ‘‘inevitably one that Mr Lundy will ask the Supreme Court to review’’.
Eaton said Lundy was very disappointed at the outcome of the appeal. ‘‘Lundy has long argued that for whatever reason, his case has become the testing grounds for novel science.’’
His defence team has argued this was an unreliable basis on which to secure a conviction.
Lundy’s long-running legal battle went back to court in October last year, as he appealed his retrial convictions.
More than 17 years have passed since Christine and Amber were found bludgeoned to death in their Palmerston North house.
Lundy was convicted of their murders in 2002. After the Privy Council overturned his convictions in 2013, he was again found guilty at his retrial in 2015.
The appeal was heard by justices Helen Winkelmann, Mark Cooper and Raynor Asher.
Eaton’s reading of the Court of Appeal’s decision was that although evidence that was strenuously contested at Lundy’s 2015 retrial was later found to be wrongly admitted, it had not given rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice, so it did not make the trial unfair.
‘‘That decision raises important issues, and is inevitably one that Lundy will ask the Supreme Court to review.’’
Lundy’s brother Craig, who accepted the guilty verdicts, said he did not believe the Court of Appeal decision would be the end of the matter. ‘‘I just wish it was all over and done with. It’s not over yet. I wish it was.’’
The Court of Appeal rejected all but one of the grounds for the appeal.