The boyfriend of a woman who bled to death on a remote beach after a violent sexual assault was not the victim of a miscarriage of justice, the NSW appeal court has found.
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Adrian Attwater, now 46, had challenged his conviction and jail sentence of at least 14 years for the manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault of Lynette Daley.
The 33-year-old woman died from injuries sustained on a drunken 2011 Australia Day camping trip to Ten Mile Beach near Iluka on the NSW north coast.
Attwater's friend, Paul Maris, now 50, was jailed for at least nine years after the NSW Supreme Court jury found him guilty of aggravated sexual assault and hindering the discovery of evidence.
The jury was told Attwater and a very drunk Ms Daley got on a mattress in the back of Maris's troop carrier where he "repeatedly and vigorously" sexually assaulted her.
Maris joined in a sex act, at Attwater's invitation.
Both men had argued the evidence didn't permit the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Daley didn't consent to sexual intercourse.
Alternatively, if the jurors found she didn't consent they couldn't be satisfied that Attwater or Maris knew this.
But the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday found the guilty verdicts were supported by the evidence.
"The totality of the evidence, from both witnesses who had seen Ms Daley in and around Iluka and from expert witnesses, provided a sound basis upon which to conclude that, either, Ms Daley was so heavily intoxicated as to be unable to freely and voluntarily consent, or that she was unconscious from the effects of alcohol and did not consent," Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and Justices David Davies and Helen Wilson said in written reasons.
"In either case lack of consent was clear.
"A conclusion that each applicant knew, or at the very least was reckless to that fact, or had no reasonable grounds to believe that she consented, was also soundly based."
The court also dismissed Attwater's appeal against his manslaughter conviction, a conviction based on Attwater's duty of care to his partner and that the lack of medical assistance substantially caused her death.
Given there was evidence suggesting the mattress Ms Daley had been on was "soaked through with blood", the jury may have reasoned Attwater could not have been unaware that something was seriously wrong with her and that she required medical assistance, the court reasoned.
"Despite having brought her to an isolated location, away from the aid of others, having injured Ms Daley, and being aware that she was bleeding likely heavily, Attwater did nothing to assist Ms Daley, until the following morning when, on one view of the evidence ... she was already dead," the court said.
The trial heard the extensive injuries to Ms Daley caused significant blood loss that would have led to hypovolemic shock and death.
Instead of seeking medical help, Attwater dragged her into the ocean to try to wash the blood off her body, while Maris burnt Ms Daley's clothing and the bloodstained mattress.
Attwater said she'd had a fit or seizure in the ocean when she went for a swim, but the sentencing judge found Attwater deliberately lied to police.
Both men also lost appeals that contended their sentences were "manifestly excessive".
Attwater was sentenced to a maximum term of 19 years, while Maris's total term was 15 years and nine months.
Australian Associated Press
