Little Pebble loses High Court appeal

Cambewarra, Austrailia - Self-styled seer and sect leader, William Kamm, known as the "Little Pebble", has lost his High Court bid for freedom.

Kamm, who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl he claimed as his "mystical bride" on divine instructions from the Virgin Mary, unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.

He was jailed in 2005 for at least 3 1/2 years for raping and assaulting the teenager in 1993.

Kamm, 57, has claimed he can communicate with the Virgin Mary and established a commune for his believers, called the Order of St Charbel, at Cambewarra.

He had said he is the messiah of a new holy era, and will choose 12 queens and 72 princesses to help propagate an "immaculate race".

His victim was selected for "mystical marriage" as one of his queens, and over a four-month period he sexually abused her.

His lawyer, Gabriel Wendler, argued his case yesterday in the High Court before Justices Dyson Heydon and Susan Kiefel.

Mr Wendler said an amendment to one of the charges, made on the ninth day of the trial, constituted such a breach of judicial regulations that it resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

"There's been a significant and fundamental failure of criminal procedure by which the jury was allowed to be exposed to a large body of evidence which was not properly before them," Mr Wendler said.

He also claimed the jury had exhibited undue prejudice against one of the witnesses when it passed a note to the judge saying that a number of jurors had seen "a member from the public gallery coaching (a) witness".

"That is, mouthing the words that were then spoken by the witness," the note read.

Kamm's legal team applied to have the jury discharged after the note incident, but the judge declined.

Mr Wendler submitted there were real questions about whether the trial could have been fair if it proceeded on that basis. The High Court found the Criminal Court of Appeal had not erred in rejecting Kamm's appeal, and dismissed his application to reopen his case.

Kamm also has been convicted of abusing another of his young female followers, a conviction he is also understood to be appealing.