The man convicted of murdering two Work and Income workers in Ashburton has had his appeal against his conviction and sentence dismissed.
Russell John Tully Photo: POOL / Dean Kozanic
Russell John Tully, was found guilty in 2016 of the fatal shooting of Peggy Noble and Leigh Cleveland, in the Ashburton Work and Income office, in 2014.
Tully was also found guilty of attempting to murder case manager Kim Adams.
The jury found him not guilty of attempting to murder Lindy Curtis, who was shot in the leg.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 27 years.
Tully appealed his conviction in 2016 and gave evidence for his appeal earlier this year.
He argued he was not in the right mind-frame at the time and his mental health should have been taken into account during his trial.
Tully said he had an available defence of insanity, which the trial judge Justice Mander refused to leave to the jury.
In its decision The Court of Appeal said it agreed with sentencing judge Justice Mander that Tully did not experience remorse.
At the trial Justice Mander made no allowance for Tully's mental health, he described the skin disorder Tully argued affected his brain as a preoccupation.
The Court of Appeal said Tully's condition could be properly characterised as a mental illness.
"We also accept that but for that illness Mr Tully might not have approached WINZ or become as insistent as he did on receiving what he thought were his entitlements. Nonetheless, it was his narcissistic sense of entitlement rather than his delusional skin disorder that explained his animus toward WINZ.
"His planned, organised and purposeful behaviour, which extended to disguising himself and making his escape, strongly indicates that he well understood what he was doing."
The court said in its opinion Tully was an intelligent man who behaved strategically throughout his trial and his appeal, exploiting his health complaints to escape accountability for his actions.
The court dismissed his appeal.
