Court rejects child abductor's appeal

File Photo

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from a woman convicted for abducting her son, saying it had "no prospect of succeeding".

Kay Skelton and her father Dick Headley pleaded guilty to abducting her son from Hamilton and taking the boy into hiding in Northland bush for six months in 2006.

Skelton spent 79 days in prison for contempt of court until her father returned the boy to police. Both were subsequently sentenced to home detention.

The Court of Appeal in March dismissed appeals by Skelton and Headley after they claimed they were forced into pleading guilty through the High Court's refusal to grant stays of proceedings, change the venue and adjourn the proceedings on the first day of trial.

In its ruling issued today, the Supreme Court rejected Skelton's latest appeal for the same reasons it rejected her father's appeal last month.

It said her appeal had "no prospect of succeeding", and noted that she had not filed any submissions to support her appeal, despite being given a number of extensions.

Skelton had applied for legal aid but was refused.

- NZPA