Woman's jail sentence stands

A young woman jailed for aggravated robbery at the age of 14 has had her application for leave to appeal dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Emelysifa Jessop had earlier had an appeal against her conviction and sentence dismissed by the Court of Appeal and sought to have that decision overturned.

Jessop was jailed for four years after being found guilty by a High Court jury in 1999.

An earlier appeal also failed but it had to be reheard under the so-called "Taito" ruling of the Privy Council.

The three-member Supreme Court said in its judgment that Jessop's lawyer, Tony Ellis, had sought to raise a large number of grounds, "but he has failed to persuade us that any of them involves a question of principle or a possible miscarriage of justice".

Jessop was convicted of robbing an 87-year-old partially blind man at his pensioner flat in Otahuhu, Auckland, on June 2, 1998.

Jessop and the victim knew each other. She punched him and beat him over the head with his walking stick before taking about $70 cash.

- NZPA