KEY POINTS:
Michael Scott Wallace - already a convicted rapist and armed robber - is now also a convicted murderer.
A High Court jury at New Plymouth yesterday took 4 1/2 hours to find the 46-year-old guilty of murdering German backpacker Birgit Brauer at Lucys Gully, southwest of New Plymouth, on September 20, 2005.
The eight women and five men accepted a Crown contention that Wallace - motivated by a desire for sex - attacked Miss Brauer at Lucys Gully, bashing her repeatedly about the head then dragging her into bushes.
He stabbed her once through the heart after being disturbed by a passing vehicle.
Police confirmed yesterday that they had missed an opportunity to arrest Wallace almost a month before he committed the murder.
Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward of New Plymouth police said Wallace was stopped by police in Waikato on August 25, 2005, a day before the owner of the vehicle - Wallace's boss - reported it stolen from Himatangi, near Palmerston North.
Wallace was wanted for failing to appear in Blenheim District Court the previous May, but police allowed him to go after he gave them false details.
Mr Coward also confirmed Wallace is serving a three-year jail term having been sentenced on drink-driving charges and other offending from around the time of his August 2005 disappearance from the Himatangi area.
Herald files - the details of which New Plymouth police have confirmed - show Wallace was sentenced to five years in prison in 1984 for a vicious home invasion and sex attack in Palmerston North.
In 1983, the then 22-year-old twice raped a woman, after attacking her husband and locking him in a closet.
Wallace initially denied the accusation - plus additional charges of wounding with intent to commit theft, and burglary - but changed his plea to guilty during his High Court trial, at Palmerston North, in 1984.
The judge commented at Wallace's 1984 sentencing that the attack saw no "serious" physical violence to the couple, "largely due to the fact the victims were so terrified".
Wallace's victim had an abortion, after his attack left her pregnant.
The former firewood cutter was sentenced to a further 2 1/2 years in prison in 1991 for the aggravated robbery of a Palmerston North dairy.
Wallace's previous offences had been suppressed until now, in the interests of a fair trial on the murder charge.
Parents pleased, emotional
As soon as yesterday's verdict was delivered, the police officer in charge of the case rang Birgit Brauer's parents in Germany.
At a press briefing outside the court, Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward said the couple were "very pleased, very emotional, as you would expect".
"They feel there has been some burden lifted from them, and there has been some closure of sorts."
He described the killing as a "tragic event for New Zealand".
"To have a young lady, and a beautiful daughter, travel on an overseas adventure throughout New Zealand and not return is a tragedy in itself."
Wallace, who had listened quietly and attentively during the closing days of the trial, winced as the verdict was handed down.
He was remanded in custody for sentencing on September 27. The Crown has indicated it will apply for preventive detention.
