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A man jailed for killing a Christchurch prostitute has lost an appeal against his conviction.
Jule Patrick Burns, 32, was found guilty last year of murdering 36-year-old prostitute and drug addict Susan Gail Sutherland, known as Suzie, in April 2005.
At the trial Burns admitted having sex with Ms Sutherland, but claimed it had been earlier on the night she was strangled to death in a vacant central Christchurch section, and that he was at a nightclub at the time of the murder.
He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Burns appealed his conviction, challenging aspects of the Crown case which he said meant the verdict was unreasonable and there was a miscarriage of justice.
In a decision released today the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and said there was a "more than adequate" evidential basis for the jury's verdict.
It was clear Ms Sutherland was killed by a man who picked her up just after 5am on April 16, 2005, driving a car that matched Burns' car.
It was open to the jury to conclude Burns' alibi for the time of the murder was false, the court said.
There was also ample evidence that Burns behaved suspiciously after the murder - including changing his appearance and cleaning and concealing his car.
Scratches on Burns' face and the presence of his DNA under Ms Sutherland's fingernails suggested a violent element to the sexual intercourse between them, the court said.
There was also evidence given that Burns had admitted killing Ms Sutherland to the woman he was boarding with at the time of the murder.
The court ruled no miscarriage of justice arose from other points raised by Burns on appeal, relating to his lawyer's competence, paperwork related to the gathering of DNA evidence and the summing up of the trial judge.
- NZPA
