Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Miscarriage of justice warrants inquiry

Andrew LITTLE

Justice Spokesperson                       
 
4 August  2013                                                     

MEDIA STATEMENT  

Miscarriage of justice warrants inquiry
 
There is nothing stopping Minister of Justice, Judith Collins, from setting up an inquiry into the Teina Pora case, and in light of the Police Association call to do so, she should now give the issue her urgent attention.
 
Teina Pora has now spent more than 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett in 1992 even though in interviews Pora could not give crucial details of the offence and police officers at the time thought the offender was likely to have been a serial rapist which did not match Pora's profile.
 
"There is overwhelming evidence in the public arena that Teina Pora's conviction is unsafe and that a miscarriage of justice has been done," Labour's Justice spokesperson Andrew Little says.
 
"Just as overwhelming is the growing number of calls for a genuinely independent inquiry into the conviction, and when the Police Association representing rank and file police officers supports those calls, then they must be taken seriously.
 
"Judith Collins says she cannot do anything because there might be an appeal to the Privy Council, but no appeal has been lodged so there is nothing stopping the minister.
 
"Any Minister of Justice should be seriously concerned whenever there is a credible claim of miscarriage of justice and should act promptly to establish the facts and ensure public confidence in the police and judiciary is not unnecessarily undermined.
 
"The fact that the Teina Pora case is just one of several high profile cases of alleged miscarriage of justice confirms my view that New Zealand should now consider setting up an equivalent to the UK Criminal Cases Review Commission as a standing Fully independent body to deal with such cases.”
 
ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On The Skewed Media Coverage Of Gaza

Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website which is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of how Kiwis alerted the rest of the world to the genocide in Rwanda. How times have changed ...

In 2023, the government is clutching its pearls because senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has dared suggest that Gaza’s civilian population - already living under apartheid and subjected to sixteen years of an illegal embargo, and now being herded together and slaughtered indiscriminately amid the destruction of their homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals - are also victims of what amounts to genocide. More


 
 
ACT: Call To Abolish Human Rights Commission

“The Human Rights Commission’s appointment of a second Chief Executive is just the latest example of a taxpayer-funded bureaucracy serving itself at the expense of delivery for New Zealanders,” says ACT MP Todd Stephenson. More


Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.