Salt Creek kidnapper Roman Heinze has appeal delayed until June

ROMAN Heinze’s various criminal cases are such a “saga” that his lawyer needs more time to prepare a challenge to his Salt Creek kidnapping convictions, a court has heard.

Salt Creek attacker Roman Heinze in an image from social media.

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ROMAN Heinze’s various criminal cases are such a “saga” that his lawyer needs more time to prepare a challenge to his Salt Creek kidnapping convictions, a court has heard.

On Monday Bill Boucaut SC, for Heinze, asked the Court of Criminal Appeal to postpone his client’s application for permission to appeal against the verdicts of a jury.

Conceding he could have simply sent the court an email, Mr Boucaut said he thought it more appropriate to explain the situation in person.

“The bottom line is I’m not in a position to proceed with the appeal this morning,” he said.

“That’s because the saga, if I can call it that, in respect of his forensic journey has only just come to a conclusion.

“Time has not permitted me to go back and revisit the papers in respect of the first trial (for the Salt Creek offending).”

Heinze, 61, will be sentenced on Wednesday for crimes including aggravated kidnapping, sexual and physical assault, and endangering life.

All three of his victims were foreign backpackers he contacted on the Gumtree website’s ride-sharing section — in defiance of bail conditions banning him from doing so.

In total, Heinze pursued 16 young women through the site.

He indecently assaulted his first victim in September 2014, molested his second three months later, and kidnapped the third and bashed the fourth at the Coorong in February 2016.

A fifth woman avoided harm after posting photos of Heinze online — he cut their trip short but remained obsessed with her afterwards.

Heinze also stood trial on more sex allegations, and was acquitted, while another trial scheduled for September was last week abandoned by prosecutors.

On Monday, both Justice David Peek and prosecutor Jim Pearce QC said they understood Mr Boucaut’s difficulty, and had no issue with postponing the hearing.

Justice Peek said he would continue to hear the appeal, and adjourned it until next month.