No appeal for Winders conviction for murder
In a last-ditch effort to appeal his murder conviction, Quinton Winders has had his application for leave to appeal dismissed.
He sought leave to appeal the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision, challenging his conviction and sentence, but it was thrown out.
Winders was convicted of murdering road worker George Taiaroa near Rotorua five years ago in 2013.
The 46-year-old, who had lived in Whangamomona and Stratford, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years in December 2016.
He took his case to the Court of Appeal in March, arguing certain parts of evidence should not have been used in the High Court jury trial.
However, in July it was announced the Court of Appeal had his argument dismissed.
Winders believed leave should be granted so the Supreme Court could consider sentence reduction as a remedy for breach of the Bill of Rights Act. In his trial, the High Court ruled some evidence was admissible because the police were in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
“An appeal against the decision that such evidence was admissible was dismissed by the Court of Appeal,” the Supreme Court said in its latest decision.
The Supreme Court also agreed and did not consider Winders case worthy for consideration under the argument he was using.
“Nor do we see any appearance of a miscarriage in the way the Court of Appeal dealt with this issue,” the Supreme Court said.
“We therefore dismiss the application for leave to appeal.”