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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
21 |
Year Crime: |
1992 |
Year Convicted: |
2000 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Zealand |
County or Region of Crime: |
Auckland |
City of Crime: |
Auckland |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Teina Pora was wrongly convicted twice of murder, rape, and aggravated burglary related to the death of 39-year-old Susan Burdett in March 1992 in her home in Auckland, New Zealand. Teina was 16 at the time of the crime. He was arrested on March 18, 1993 for the unrelated crime of a stolen vehicle, after over the next four days he gave a series of statements during police interrogations conducted without a parent or lawyer present, that implicated him in the crime, although the statements were wildly inconsistent with one another and the facts of the crime. Pora was charged with Burdett's murder based on his statements that were considered a confession, although no physical, forensic, or eyewitness evidence linked him to the crime. Teina's first conviction in 1994 when he was 17, was quashed in 1999 after DNA evidence from semen found at the murder scene was linked to serial rapist Malcolm Rewa. Rewa was convicted of the rape of 27 women, and based on the DNA evidence in December 1998 he was convicted of raping Burdett, but he was not convicted of her murder. Pora was retried. During his trial the prosecution again relied on his confession, and the judge refused to admit evidence that Rewa had been convicted of raping Burdett. In March 2000 a jury again convicted Pora of Burdett's murder and rape -- so two people were convicted of committing the single crime of Burdett's rape, with only Pora convicted of her murder that occurred at the same time. Pora's appeal was declined in October 2000 by New Zealand's Court of Appeal. In May 2013 Pora submitted an application for leave to appeal to the Privy Council in London, which at that time was the court of last appeal for the former British colony of New Zealand. Pora argued that considerable doubt was cast on his presence at the scene of Burdett's rape and murder by the unreliability of his confession, the evidence of Rewa's rape conviction the judge refused to admit into evidence. On January 31, 2014 Pora was granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council. Less than two months later, in March 2014, Pora was released on parole after 21 years in custody from the time of his arrest. On March 3, 2015 the Privy Council in London quashed Pora's conviction. On March 30, 2015 the Privy Council ordered no retrial based on the prosecutions submission that a retrial would not be in the public interest. In April 2015 Pora submitted an application for ex gratia compensation from New Zealand's government. The government contracted with retired High Court Judge Rodney Hansen, QC to review the case and make a recommendation. Based on the balance of probabilities of a miscarriage of justice - the test to trigger a Government payment for a wrongful conviction, Judge Hansen’s report recommended the granting of an award to Pora. Judge Hansen’s report rejected the entire case against Pora, and concluded that convicted serial rapist Malcolm Rewa acted alone and was solely responsible for the rape and murder of Burdett. The report stated: “Indeed the state of the evidence is such that, in my view, he could have proved his innocence to an even higher level.” On June 15, 2016 New Zealand's Justice Minister Amy Adams announced that Teina Pora had been awarded NZL$2,520,949.42 (US$1,774,082.86) compensation and received a Government apology for being wrongfully convicted of Burdett's rape and murder. The payment was the largest ever awarded by New Zealand's government. On June 14, 2016 Minister Adams sent Pora a "Statement of innocence and apology for wrongful conviction and imprisonment." Adams wrote in the Statement: "The Crown accepts that you are innocent of the offences for which you were convicted in 1994, and again in 2000." ("Statement of innocence and apology for wrongful conviction and imprisonment," from JM Amy Adams, 6-14-2016) On November 8, 2017 New Zealand's Justice Minister Andrew Little announced Pora would receive an extra NZL$988,099 (US$678,592) for an inflation adjustment of his 2016 compensation award, to bring it to a total of NZL$3,509,048.42. In addition, JM Little announced Pora was being awarded NZL$45,000 (US$30,903) in costs for the review." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On March 3, 2015 the Privy Council in London quashed Pora's conviction. On March 30, 2015 the Privy Council ordered no retrial based on the prosecutions submission that a retrial would not be in the public interest." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"NZL$3,509,048.42 total. NZL$2,520,949.42 (US$1,774,082.86) (New Zealand govt., 6-15-2016) and NZL$988,099 (US$678,592) (New Zealand govt, 11-8-2017)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
17 |
Age When Released: |
38 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Other |
Information Source 1: |
"Pora v. The Queen, [2015] UKPC 9 (Privy Council Appeal No. 0081 of 2013 (3-3-2015) (Conviction quashed as miscarriage of justice)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1679737/privy-council.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"Innocent man' in jail 20 years, By Phil Taylor, The New Zealand Herald, May 19, 2012" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10806944 |
Information Source 3: |
"Malcolm Rewa faces 'very rare' trial after Teina Pora's murder convictions quashed, By Sophie Ryan & Kurt Bayer, The New Zealand Herald, March 4, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11411722 |
Information Source 4: |
"British ruling to overturn New Zealand murder conviction raises fresh doubts over abolition of London jurisdiction, By Paul Chapman (Wellington, NZL reporter), The Telegraph (London, UK), March 3, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/11447432/British-ruling-to-overturn-New-Zealand-murder-conviction-raises-fresh-doubts-over-abolition-of-London-jurisdiction.html |
Information Source 5: |
"No retrial for Teina Pora, By Phil Taylor (Staff writer), The New Zealand Herald, March 30, 2015" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11425232 |
Book About Case: |
"Dark Places: The Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-Cop's Fight for Justice, By Michael Bennett ( BookBaby, 1st ed. (April 4, 2016))" |
Book Information: |
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org