Paedophile denied leave to appeal

A convicted paedophile serving preventive detention for sexually assaulting two young sisters in Cambridge has been denied the right to appeal.

Allan Borley, about 44, was last year given preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of five years after being found guilty in 2004 of indecent assault and two counts of sexual violation against the girls.

At his sentencing in Hamilton, Borley had to be removed from the dock, yelling obscenities.

After failing to get the Court of Appeal to overturn his conviction and sentence, he asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal on the grounds that there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice. But in its just released decision, the Supreme Court dismissed his application.

Borley had claimed his trial lawyer had given him incorrect advice about testifying at trial; he had previously been jailed for 2 years for indecently assaulting four girls aged between 7 and 10.

He claimed that the lawyer's advice about the likelihood those convictions would be brought up under cross-examination if he testified affected his decision not to testify.

But the Supreme Court found there had been no miscarriage of justice.

Indeed, "the Court of Appeal expressed a firm view, in light of how he had presented there, that he would have diminished his prospects of acquittal had he given evidence".

- NZPA