Rewa victims call for re-prosecution

A Stuff Circuit investigation has led to three victims of serial rapist Malcolm Rewa calling on the police to prosecute him a third time over the murder of Susan Burdett.

Two of those women went to court to have their name suppression lifted so they could talk to Stuff’s Circuit investigative team.

One of them, Rhonda McHardy, who was raped by Malcolm Rewa two weeks before the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett, told Stuff Circuit: “I can’t obviously speak for Susan Burdett but I’m probably the closest alternative at this point to knowing how violent he was and what he was capable of.”

Another woman, Tracey Kearney, who was Rewa’s 18th attack, describes Rewa as “an animal”.

“He should never come out. Not with the harm that he’s caused.”

Malcolm Rewa was convicted of the rape of Susan Burdett but there were two hung juries over the murder charge. After his second trial in 1998, the Solicitor General imposed a stay of proceedings against further prosecution.

Now, with the exoneration in June of Teina Pora - who was twice wrongfully convicted of Susan Burdett’s rape and murder - the Burdett homicide is unsolved.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush says the police can’t re-prosecute because of the stay of proceedings, but also because there’s no new evidence.

The stay of proceedings could be lifted by the Solicitor General in “exceptional circumstances”.

One of Teina Pora’s legal team, lawyer Ingrid Squire, told Stuff Circuit this case easily meets that threshold.

“What I think we have to remember is that the two juries that considered the charge against Malcolm Rewa were of the belief and understanding that another man had confessed to Susan’s murder, and secondly that that other man, Teina Pora, had been found guilty by a jury. What we now know is that those confessions weren’t worth the paper they were written on, [they were] utterly, wholly unreliable. Teina Pora has been found to be innocent, so it’s a whole new ball game.”

Rewa was sentenced to preventive detention in 1998 for attacks on 25 women. He’s eligible for parole in 2018.

Rewa’s ninth victim, Rhonda McHardy, told Stuff Circuit that the prospect of imminent parole is “a little bit offensive”.

“He’s served less than one year per victim. When I think about the damage he’s done to so many lives. Honestly, it’s ridiculous that he’s even up for parole”.

A third woman, who was raped by Rewa on New Year’s Eve 1987 and is the first known victim in his serial rape spree, also wants police to charge Rewa a third time with Susan Burdett’s murder.

She told Stuff Circuit, “The police failed me, they failed Teina Pora, they must not fail Susan Burdett or her family.”

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