Murderer of Carly Ryan loses challenge against life sentence
THE social networking predator who stalked and murdered Carly Ryan will serve his full life sentence after losing his appeal.
THE social networking predator who stalked and murdered Carly Ryan will serve his full life sentence.
Sonya Ryan began a crusade in the name of her murdered daughter knowing it could all be wiped out by a single legal decision.
She knew that, despite its success, the Carly Ryan Foundation would have to be shut down if social networking predator Garry Francis Newman won an appeal against his conviction.
"If the decision went the wrong way, it would have torn down everything we'd achieved and what we had hoped to achieve in the future," she said yesterday.
"I had a very anxious, sleepless night waiting for the appeal to be decided."
Yesterday, after almost five months of deliberation, the Court of Criminal Appeal unanimously rejected Newman's challenge.
The court's decision means the overweight, balding predator will serve his full life sentence - a thought that left Ms Ryan feeling "ecstatic".
"To me, Garry Newman is worth nothing," she said.
"I feel that, the moment he made the choice to take the life of an innocent child, he lost all his rights."
A Supreme Court jury last year found Newman, 50, guilty of murdering Miss Ryan, 15, at Port Elliot in 2007.
He had spent the months leading up to the murder deceiving and seducing her through his fake cyberspace alter-ego, Brandon Kane.
When Miss Ryan rejected his advances, Newman bashed her and dragged her into the water to drown.
Newman was jailed for life, with a 29-year non-parole period.
He subsequently appealed his conviction on several grounds. One of those claimed Miss Ryan's mother should not have been allowed to give evidence at trial.
Yesterday, justices Tom Gray, Richard White and Chris Kourakis rejected those grounds.
They said it was important the jury be provided with "context" about events leading up to the murder and found the evidence that Newman intended to kill Miss Ryan "overwhelming".
Mrs Ryan told The Advertiser: "Finally, Carly can have some peace and we can continue on with what she'd want us to do - ensuring this can't happen to another innocent child."