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