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The man found guilty of the brutal murder of German backpacker Birgit Brauer is appealing both his conviction and sentence, his lawyer says.
In August, Michael Scott Wallace, 46, was found guilty in the High Court at New Plymouth of the murder of the 28-year-old tourist, whose beaten and stabbed body was found in Lucy's Gully, near Oakura, southwest of New Plymouth, on September 20, 2005.
Wallace, who has more than 65 previous convictions including one for the abduction and rape of a young woman in 1984, picked up Ms Brauer as she hitchhiked between Wanganui and New Plymouth.
He drove her to Lucy's Gully where he beat her in the head with a metal bar, then dragged her into bush and stabbed her once through the heart.
Wallace was this month sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 18 years.
His lawyer Greg King today said an appeal had been lodged against both Wallace's conviction and the non-parole period of the sentence.
He expected the appeal would be held about the middle of next year.
- NZPA
