Murderer Marong seeking appeal

Sainey Marong is seeking to appeal his conviction for the murder of 22-year-old Christchurch sex worker Renee Duckmanton.

He was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole term of 18 years in April after being found guilty in a nine-day murder trial in the High Court at Christchurch in February.

It is understood he is representing himself at the appeal hearing. The Court of Appeal confirmed yesterday that the appeal had been filed and said a hearing date would be set soon.

Duckmanton’s body was found burning on a roadside near Rakaia in May 2016, about a day after she had gone missing from where she was working in the Manchester St red light district.

Marong told the trial that he had strangled Duckmanton in his car after they had sex, when there was a dispute about where to go next.

The Crown pointed to the 34-year-old Ilam butcher’s ‘‘unhealthy and unpleasant’’ interest in necrophilia, and produced evidence at the trial of his internet searches about murder, kidnapping, and necrophilia before the murder.

Justice Cameron Mander said at the sentencing that it had been a callous and cruel murder.

Marong’s depraved aim was to kill a sex worker to fulfil some sexual ambition, said the judge.

The trial jury took less than an hour to return its guilty verdict.