Honour killing murderer loses appeal

A man's bid to his conviction for the murder of his wife's lover overturned has been denied in the court of criminal appeal.

A Sydney man who murdered his wife's lover in a so-called honour killing has lost an appeal against his conviction.

The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed Hazairin Iskandar's argument that he lost a "real opportunity of acquittal" over the murder of Mohd Shah Saemin in February 2010 because the trial judge erred in his directions to the jury.

Iskandar, 59, was jailed for at least 17 years last December after he was found guilty of murder.

Mr Saemin, known as Shah, died after he was attacked by Iskandar and his son, Andrew, outside his Leichhardt flat in Sydney's inner west on February 21, 2010.

Iskandar stabbed Mr Saemin at least four times with a knife, while his son struck him repeatedly with a hammer.

The trial heard Mr Saemin had been having an affair with Iskandar's wife, Nita, and Iskandar felt the affair had brought shame on the family.

Iskandar pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but not guilty to murder on the grounds of provocation.

In an appeal hearing last September, lawyers for Iskandar argued the trial judge failed to adequately instruct the jury on how they should treat Iskandar's evidence.

In a judgment handed down last Friday in the Court of Criminal Appeal, the three judge panel rejected this argument and dismissed the appeal.

Last month, 23-year-old Andrew Iskandar had a minor win in his appeal against the severity of his minimum 18-year sentence.

It was cut by just three months after the appeal judges found the trial judge had failed to backdate it to the time he was arrested.