'Evil' man waiting three years for murder appeal

Wayne Bracken is still waiting for a date to have his appeal heard, more than three years after being jailed for a minimum of 21 years for murder. Photo / File

A date has yet to be set to hear an appeal against the murder conviction and sentence of a man described by a High Court judge as "dangerous and evil".

In 2012, Wayne Bracken, 38, received the longest sentence handed out in a Northland court for the murder of Aucklander Jack Davis on February 25, 2011.

Within days of being sentenced to life imprisonment with a 21-year minimum non-parole period, Bracken appealed conviction and sentence.

The Court of Appeal said yesterday that a date had yet to be set to hear Bracken's appeal.

After a seven-week trial, Bracken was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Mr Davis, as well as on charges of aggravated robbery, assault with intent to injure and burglary. Bracken's co-accused in the death of Mr Davis, Neville Dangen, 24, from Kaeo, was found not guilty of the charges. Mr Dangen was not involved in the aggravated robbery.

The jury had heard that Bracken had Mr Davis hogtied, left him tied up in a woolshed for about 20 hours, then beat him to death with a thistle grubber, leaving his body down a ravine off isolated Salvation Rd, near Kaeo.

Justice Edwin Wylie noted during sentencing Bracken had taunted Mr Davis' family by singing and whistling Candle in the Wind when he entered and left the courtroom during the trial, continuing even after being asked to stop.

"You were confrontational with witnesses and thought you were above the law," he said at the time.

"It was calculated and vicious. It was, in effect, an execution," Justice Wylie said of Mr Davis' death.

"You totally ignored his torment."

The starting point for sentencing was 20 years but he added another year for aggravating features, including Bracken's continued denial of wrongdoing, complete lack of remorse, his 18 previous convictions, several of them for violence, and the brutality of the killing.

The judge said Bracken was "dangerous and evil".