Aim killer faces big hurdle to change plea - expert

A teenager who admitted murdering Scottish tourist Karen Aim faces an almost impossible task if he wants to withdraw his guilty plea, says a legal expert.

Jahche Broughton, 15, last month admitted murdering Miss Aim, 26, and was remanded in custody to be sentenced in Rotorua on Friday.

However, after changing his lawyer his sentencing date has been delayed amid reports he may seek to change his plea.

Technically and legally he could change his plea to not guilty but it rarely happened, said Associate Professor Bill Hodge from the University of Auckland Law Faculty.

"Technically it is barely possible but you would have to really show some extraordinary, extreme, unusual circumstances. They really don't like it," he said.

Broughton was only 14 when Ms Aim was killed in Taupo on January 17 last year.

She was found by police lying in the street after they were called to investigate a vandalism spree at Taupo Nui a Tia College on January 17.

She was taken to Taupo Hospital but died a short time later.

Prof Hodge said there were precedents where convicted people had changed their pleas from guilty to not guilty and had gone through a trial but it was highly unusual.

"Technically it is possible but most unlikely," said Prof Hodge.

If Broughton lodged an appeal he would be asking the judge to rule his guilty plea was not a voluntary plea and he did not understand what he was doing at the time, he said.

"That is a pretty big hurdle," said Prof Hodges.

Broughton's new lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith, said some legal issues had caused the sentencing to be postponed.

He said he had not had the file for long and needed more time before Broughton was sentenced.

"I was instructed last week so we are just asking for more time so we can look at the file."

Mr Wilkinson-Smith replaced Bill Lawson, who was in court when Broughton pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Mr Lawson would not talk about Broughton's case today but said there was a legal process for anyone convicted of an offence to apply to the court "to vacate or change his plea and have the conviction overturned".

- NZPA