Raymond John Belsey (28) is serving a prison term of three years and four months after he was sentenced in February last year at the Dunedin District Court.
A jury found him guilty of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and he was also convicted of wilful damage, for smashing a wooden panel in the courthouse following an outburst during the trial.
Belsey took his gripe about the trial’s outcome to the Court of Appeal which last year rejected his argument that there had been a miscarriage of justice.
This week he sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, despite filing the paperwork four months late.
Justices Mark O’Regan, Ellen France and Joe Williams said there was little clarity in the man’s specific grounds for appeal but it was clear "the applicant feels he was wrongly convicted and that the allegation made against him by the victim was untrue".
"He says the victim’s injuries ... were, in fact, self-inflicted."
Belsey and the victim were sharing a cell at the Otago Corrections Facility in July 2020.
They clashed over sexualised comments the defendant made about a 10-year-old girl who featured in a television advertisement, the court heard at trial.
Belsey threw the remote at the television, jumped from his top bunk and smashed the device before violating the victim in his bunk.
In a brief judgement, the Supreme Court refused to hold a full appeal hearing.
"There is nothing before us to indicate that the jury verdict was unreasonable.
"There is nothing in the material provided by the applicant that raises any matter of public importance."
The victim, who was handcuffed to Corrections officers while undergoing an intrusive medical examination following the sex attack, later received an apology from the prison manager for his treatment.
The episode prompted a review which now dictated a Corrections nurse would accompany any inmate during such an assessment, while officers remained outside the room.
Belsey is eligible for parole in November.
