Killer stepdad refused murder appeal
A man who stabbed his stepdaughter in the heart while she was watching TV has failed to have his murder conviction overturned.
Raymond John Mead was found guilty last year of killing 23-year-old Sherelle Locke in February 2014 at her mother's Boronia Heights house, south of Brisbane.
During his trial the jury heard Ms Locke was pinned down on the sofa and grabbed by the throat before Mead plunged a knife 27cm deep into her chest.
Mead then turned on his partner, Marlene Locke, who watched her daughter bleed to death.
He was jailed for life.
Mead took his case to the Court of Appeal in Brisbane in October, arguing a wide variety of reasons as to why the conviction was unsound.
He told the court inadmissible evidence had been presented at the trial, claimed Ms Locke committed perjury on 25 occasions while giving evidence against him, and said he was too drunk at the time to have formed a murderous intent.
He also accused his lawyers of being incompetent.
The Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected all of these grounds, and dismissed the appeal.
