Jesse Shane Kempson, convicted of killing young British backpacker Grace Millane in a case that generated widespread interest in New Zealand and overseas, returned to a courtroom today via audio-video feed as he contested two other convictions and sentences for attacks on separate women.

The 30-year-old prisoner sat in a holding cell often resting his chin in his hands as defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC, spent over an hour addressing Court of Appeal Justices Forrie Miller, Garry Muir and David Gendall in the High Court at Auckland.

Both of Kempson’s accusers had reason to exaggerate their allegations with hopes of helping police investigating the high-profile Millane case, Mansfield suggested, adding that inconsistencies in their statements to police and in the witness box necessitated more “robust analysis” by the judges who oversaw the trials.

“The complainants’ evidence wasn’t reliable,” Mansfield said.

Kempson was convicted by a jury of Millane’s murder in November 2019. Over the next 12 months, he would face two other judge-alone trials in which two other women came forward to describe abuse at his hands.

He was found guilty both times.

In October 2020, Justice Timothy Brewer heard testimony from a former partner of the defendant’s who outlined abuse that she said included slamming her on the ground so that she struggled to breathe, threatening her with a butcher knife, rape, locking her out on a balcony in the rain and explicitly telling her one night that he intended to murder her.

He was found guilty of two charges of sexual violation, three of assault, two of assault with a weapon and one of threatening to kill. Justice Brewer ordered a sentence of seven years and six months’ imprisonment.

Days later, a trial began before Justice Geoffrey Venning in which he was accused of raping a woman he had met on Tinder at the end of what had been their first date.

After finding him guilty of that charge as well, Justice Venning ordered a sentence of three-and-a-half years, to be stacked on top of the sentence for the other abuse case.

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Both sentences are being served concurrently with his murder sentence: life imprisonment with a minimum term of imprisonment of 17 years.

Kempson has already appealed his conviction and sentence for the murder charge. The Court of Appeal rejected that appeal in December 2020.

Mansfield referred to testimony from Kempson’s accuser in the first judge-alone trial in during which the Millane case was brought up.

“I was Grace’s voice,” the accuser said of her decision to speak out about her prior relationship with Kempson. “I will be Grace’s voice.”

It’s clear, Mansfield said, that both accusers thought they were cooperating with police as part of the Millane case.

“That, provides, unfortunately, fertile ground [for exaggeration],” the lawyer said.

He noted that numerous text messages between Kempson and the woman who had a relationship with never touched on physical or sexual abuse.

The woman who said she was raped on her first date with Kempson acted in ways that night that suggested she wanted to be there, Mansfield also suggested, pointing out that she had opportunities to call an Uber if she had wanted to end the date.

“It could also be said that both perhaps felt a need to explain an otherwise voluntary relationship,” Mansfield told the panel. “In this case there was very much a motive by which both women might feel compelled to exaggerate the nature of their relationship with Mr Kempson.”

But Justice Miller at one point also noted the “highly manipulative behaviour” by Kempson that was described by both women.

“That is a theme of both cases for which you haven’t really focussed,” he told Mansfield.

Kempson’s lawyers also made brief submissions suggesting that stacking both sentences was “excessive”.

Crown prosecutor Fiona Culliney said the judges in both cases did carefully analyse inconsistencies and other aspects of the defence. With careful analysis, they rightly found the women to be reliable witnesses, she said.

Culliney said that given the manipulative and controlling nature of the relationship, it’s not unusual Kempson’s partner might not have wanted to discuss physical abuse via texts. Nevertheless, she said, there was one text in which Kempson said he was enrolled in an anger management course - suggesting there had been an issue with violence.

The prosecutor also spoke in support of the accuser’s statement during trial that she was speaking on behalf of Millane.

“That comment doesn’t suggest that she has a motive to lie but shows the depth of emotion she feels” at having dated someone who went on to kill another woman, she said.

The hearing continues.