A Canberra man serving 30 years in jail for stabbing his wife to death has lost a bid to change his plea, more than a year after his conviction.
Maged al-Harazi was convicted of killing his wife after a five-week trial in the ACT Supreme Court last April, but today tried to change his plea to guilty in order to get a lighter sentence.
Sabah al-Mdwali was stabbed more than 50 times as she nursed the couple's youngest child.
Al-Harazi always maintained someone else had done it, including pointing the finger at his father-in law and one of his wife's brothers, but has now admitted he killed Ms al-Mdwali.
He made the admission while lodging an appeal against his sentence, in which he was seeking to be re-sentenced on the basis of a guilty plea.
But Justice David Mossop found many flaws in the application.
"So long as the conviction stands, the offender has been proven to be guilty," he said.
"His plea is no longer relevant as it has been overtaken by the jury's verdict.
"Thus, at most it could involve an admission of guilt rather than a plea of guilty."
Justice Mossop also noted al-Harazi would be unlikely to achieve his aim of a lower sentence even if the plea was changed.
"Even if it was possible to change plea in the manner proposed, in the circumstances of this case, that would not provide a basis for a lower sentence," he said.
Concerns were also raised at the long delay in lodging the appeal, which was nearly a year out of date.
The court ruled it was too late, and threw out the whole case.
Al-Harazi was sentenced to 30 years' jail in August last year, with a non-parole period of 21 years.
