A man found guilty of assault with a weapon after he used his car to run a cyclist off the road in Whangarei has been granted a second chance to appeal against his conviction.
Peter Petryszick raised 10 grounds in his original appeal against conviction, including that the verdict wasn't supported by the evidence and that the trial judge had misdirected the jury.
The appeal hearing was adjourned several times on procedural grounds and was finally heard in October last year.
The court refused to grant a further adjournment and dismissed Petryszick's appeal because of his failure to comply with procedural rules.
The Supreme Court has now ruled an appeal cannot be dismissed due to an appellant's procedural error and has ordered the Court of Appeal to re-hear the case.
