{"id":16797,"date":"2020-03-18T08:15:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T12:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=16797"},"modified":"2020-03-18T08:15:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T12:15:55","slug":"grace-millanes-killer-to-appeal-against-conviction-and-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2020\/03\/18\/grace-millanes-killer-to-appeal-against-conviction-and-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Millane’s killer to appeal against conviction and sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The killer of British backpacker Grace Millane has begun the process of appealing against his murder conviction and jail sentence, his barrister said.<\/p>\n

Auckland-based Rachael Reed QC confirmed that an appeal had been filed in the New Zealand Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old, who cannot be named, was jailed for at least 17 years for the murder last month.<\/p>\n

He strangled Ms Millane in a hotel in Auckland, hid her body in a suitcase and buried it in bushland.<\/p>\n

The man claimed the 21-year-old had died accidentally after the pair engaged in rough sex that went too far.<\/p>\n

A jury in November rejected that argument and found the man guilty.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/span>
The killer’s identity is suppressed under New Zealand law (Image: TVNZ)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Murder typically comes with a life sentence in New Zealand. Prosecutors successfully argued that the man must serve 17 years before becoming eligible for parole.<\/p>\n

Lawyers Ian Brookie and Ron Mansfield who led the defence during his trial, had asked for their then-client to serve 12 years, later indicating he would appeal.<\/p>\n

In sentencing, Justice Simon Moore told the defendant his actions amounted to “conduct that underscores a lack of empathy and sense of self-entitlement and objectification”.<\/p>\n

After the sentencing, Grace’s mother Gillian Millane, spoke to the court via a video-link and told the man: “Grace wasn’t just my daughter. She was my friend. My very best friend.<\/p>\n

“I am absolutely heartbroken that you have taken my daughter’s future and robbed us of so many memories that we were going to create.”<\/p>\n

Det Insp Scott Beard of Auckland City Police said the death was “senseless and needless”.<\/p>\n

\"Grace<\/span>
Ms Millane was last seen alive on the eve of her 22nd birthday (Image: Millane Family)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ms Millane, from Wickford in Essex,\u00a0met her killer on a dating app<\/a>\u00a0while travelling in Auckland in December 2018.<\/p>\n

The pair spent the evening drinking before returning to the man’s room in the CityLife hotel in central Auckland where he killed her.<\/p>\n

He then disposed of her body by burying it in a suitcase in the Wait\u0101kere Ranges, a mountainous area outside the city.<\/p>\n

He was found guilty of murder last year.<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The killer of British backpacker Grace Millane has begun the process of appealing against his murder conviction and jail sentence, his barrister said. Auckland-based Rachael Reed QC confirmed that an appeal had been filed in […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,4,6],"tags":[6767,7087,6766,2860,7086,6768],"class_list":{"0":"post-16797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-uk","10":"category-world","11":"tag-auckland","12":"tag-auckland-city-police","13":"tag-grace-millane","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-new-zealand-court-of-appeal","16":"tag-wickford","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16798,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16797\/revisions\/16798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}