Four men sentenced to up to 18 years' jail for murder after what was described as the ''long and brutal'' beating of an Oamaru man have launched appeals against both their convictions and sentences.
The decision by Robert Cummings (24), Steven Boskell (20), Ryan Geary-Smart (25) and Jacob Geary-Smart (24) has disappointed but not surprised the family of victim Justin MacFarlane, who said the men had no feelings of remorse.
News of the appeals followed the gruelling nine-week trial late last year that found the four guilty of murder, and Stephanie McCormack (28), of Timaru, guilty of being an accessory after the fact.
The court heard Cummings, Boskell and Ryan Geary-Smart, who were sentenced in February to an 18-year minimum term, and Jacob Geary Smart, who received a minimum 17 years in jail, were involved in violence and stand-over tactics in Oamaru before the September 2013 murder.
On the night of the murder, Mr McFarlane was tied up with an electrical cord and had his face covered in a sheet, and was beaten by the four using a fire poker, a golf club and a beer bottle, and also stomped on.
During sentencing, Mr McFarlane's family described the men's actions as ''evil''.
Sentencing the group, Justice David Gendall used the words ''callous'' and ''brutal''.
Mr McFarlane's sister, Kim Julius, said yesterday the family was disappointed with the appeals, as they had hoped the sentencing would bring some kind of closure.
''We are never going to forget Justin, or what happened to him, but we were hoping to move forward from having this awful stuff in our face all the time.
''We were hoping that they would just accept their punishments and get on with it,'' Ms Julius said.
However, given the way they acted throughout the trial - Ms Julius said the four laughed and eye-balled Mr McFarlane's family members - the appeals were not surprising, as it seemed clear ''they weren't going to own up to anything''.
Their decision to appeal showed once again they did not have any remorse.
Lawyers for the men confirmed yesterday when contacted the appeals had been filed.
David More, counsel for Ryan Geary-Smart, confirmed his client was appealing both conviction and sentence, as did Jacob Geary-Smart's counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr and Cummings' lawyer Anne Stevens.
Lawyer John Westgate said former client Boskell would also appeal.
Mr Westgate said there were a number of possible outcomes, from a retrial to the appeal being dismissed.
None would give details of the reasons behind the appeals.
Mr More said his client would be entitled to an interim grant for legal aid to enable submissions.
The court may require submissions to be oral or written.
McCormack was sentenced to eight months' home detention, and her counsel, Bernadette Farnan, said yesterday she had not been instructed to appeal.
''I would not be expecting Stephanie to appeal,'' she said.
