Sex offender asks for retrial after Telecom error

A convicted Auckland sex offender jailed indefinitely sought a retrial yesterday on his latest convictions after Telecom failed to produce full records during his 1999 trial.

Graham Ashley Robert Palmer, 56, was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Auckland of indecency, sexual violation and oral sex involving a 15-year-old girl, and masturbating in front of two other girls.

Earlier he had been convicted of indecent assault charges in Rotorua.

Palmer gained notoriety in 1988 when he was jailed for duping Inland Revenue out of $2.6 million in the country's first GST fraud.

He has already exhausted his two appeals over the 1999 conviction but in the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday, his lawyer, John Rowan, QC, sought a retrial after a Ministry of Justice report by Kirsty McDonald, QC, recommended that new evidence be considered.

A Telecom worker had given evidence during the trial that there had been four outgoing calls from the 15-year-old victim's house on January 22, 1999 - the night of the offences - and there had been no incoming calls. But a private prosecution by Palmer discovered Telecom had made an error in the records it gave the court and there had been four incoming calls.

"The telephone evidence was used during the trial by the Crown to dismiss Palmer's alibis," Mr Rowan said. "This would have supported his version of events."

The victim's evidence contained contradictions, such as the state of Palmer's house, from which he was in the process of moving, he said.

"There were matters she was cross-examined on rigorously and found wanting."

Palmer had been acquitted on some charges, showing the jury had not taken her evidence at face value.

"The phone call evidence casts real doubt on her evidence."

Crown lawyer Phillip Hamlin conceded two of the four calls were relevant. "The difficulty is assessing whether they warrant a quashing of his conviction. I will say they are not of such significance to warrant a re-trial."

The court reserved its decision.

Palmer has served seven years of his sentence of preventive detention, which does not allow him to be considered for parole for at least 10 years.

The Crown sought to have him declared a vexatious litigant in April 2004 after he mounted at least 25 court cases as well as appeals.

He took legal action against District and High Court judges and JPs, court officials, witnesses, Telecom, a prison superintendent and a psychiatrist.

In 2002, his claim for $10 million damages against prosecutors and his own lawyer was dismissed.

- NZPA