Woman's murder conviction quashed after judge's 'boring' comments

27 May 2020, 01:26 by Karen Sweeney

A woman who was jailed for bludgeoning a lonely widower to death with a tin of mangoes and a statue of the Virgin Mary has had her conviction overturned after successfully arguing she was denied a fair trial by a judge who labelled her lawyer's questions "boring".

Justice Paul Coghlan also called Katia Pyliotis' murder defence a "red herring calculated to mislead" and told lawyers that's what he'd tell the jury.

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.558%2C$multiply_2.1164%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_77/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/d6b56b9508b051e1e12939732ae5d4ce3fc9e125 — Katia Pyliotis outside the Supreme Court in 2017.Vince Caligiuri

Ms Pyliotis was jailed for 19 years last year for the murder of 69-year-old Elia Abdelmessih, whose bludgeoned body was found alongside a tin of mangoes and a Virgin Mary statue in 2005.

Victoria's Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned the conviction and ordered she stand trial again for the crime.

She faced three failed trials before being convicted in the fourth.

"It will be a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions whether the applicant faces trial for a fifth time," three judges ruled.

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_3.851%2C$multiply_1.5109%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_439/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/7aef0247c41eecb7348db2f9508dbdff8dbc5d8f — Elia Abdelmessih was found with his head submerged in water after being bashed to death.

Her barrister, Dermot Dann, QC, said the court should overturn the conviction because of Justice Coghlan's "negative and scathing assessment" of the defence case.

At one point while trial lawyer Richard Edney was questioning a witness, Justice Coghlan interjected to tell him "this is even more boring than the other parts of your cross-examination".

He made other remarks in front of the jury, including that they'd "still be here 13 years later" hearing crime scene evidence, that "I'll have to start answering these questions myself"

Three appeal judges found those comments and others may have unfavourably influenced the jury's consideration of the defence case, which involved a confession to police by another woman who has since died.

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.16%2C$multiply_2.1164%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_1/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/894526573f24aada041dd903659fef669e5375ed — Katia Pyliotis arrives at the Supreme Court in April, 2019.AAP

"To describe counsel's cross-examination as 'boring' ... had the tendency to demean counsel's competence and to run the risk of diminishing his standing in the eyes of the jury," the judges said.

"Comments such as these – if they are ever justified – should be reserved for occasions when the jury is absent."

In the days after the murder a woman who had been having sex with the victim for money, Susan Reddie, confessed to killing Mr Abdelmessih.

But a police officer gave evidence at Pyliotis' trial that Ms Reddie had recanted shortly afterwards.

Only one of the officer's colleagues had a vague recollection of the recanting of the confession and the police diaries the officer said he recorded it in were lost.

Justice Coghlan said the evidence about Ms Reddie recanting her confession was "a distraction".

"I think it's all a big red herring ... I make it clear to you that's exactly what I'm going to tell this jury when the moment comes, that it's a giant red herring," he said.

But the appeal judges disagreed and said whether or not Ms Reddie had recanted was manifestly important.

Prosecutors had also appealed the sentence, urging the appeal court to increase her time behind bars.

AAP