Teina Pora: Police let the real murderer go..

Some things don't fit, because something is missing in the translation, the description, continuity - even common sense. The unease with which the conviction for murder against Teina Pora doesn't fit is extraordinary, not so much flawed logic that supposes that a lone serial rapist one night changes his modus operandi to work with someone else who doesn't rape the victim but instead kills her and blames 2 innocent men - conceptually rare by any account.

In this case apart from the 'confession' type statement of Teina himself, the 'supporting' independent evidence comes from prisoners who sang for their supper. The police needed to somehow put the two men together at some time and as far as I know they used the prisoners to supply not direct evidence but indirect evidence of what they claimed Teina told them. Now Teina told a lot of people a lot of things, and that started with the police when he decided he was going to drop a couple of mob members in it and collect the reward offered for information leading to a conviction of the rape and murder of Auckland women Susan Burdett. As is fairly well known the big flaw in Teina case showed up straight away when he couldn't identify the street where the house was situated and once 'assisted' with that couldn't identify the right house. That Teina would identify members of the mob, of which he was a prospect of some sort, would also be a flaw because the mob was surely going to get to know who had 'fingered' them. But once a story doesn't fit why not keep going because that's what the police did along with charging Teina himself. So much for his reward.

Of course when the trial took place the two mob members were acquitted because they had a alibi, though Teina was found guilty on what must have been 'where there's smoke there must be fire' basis. So the boy that had wrongly fingered the mob for a reward was suddenly doing a life sentence even though he didn't even know where the crime scene was or  where the victim lived until the police 'helped' him by saying 'we know you are really a good boy Teina trying to help us solve this crime that we can't solve, and because you're such a good boy we'll show you the house and charge you for the crime anyway.' Who knows what the first Jury were thinking when they found Teina guilty, I'm not sure that they knew that Teina had been unable to identify the right house but if they did it apparently didn't bother them, just like it hadn't bothered the police. By then it appears no one at all was bothered because Teina had been found guilty and the crime was solved to everyone's apparent satisfaction apart from sceptics and sceptics are always sceptical about things anyway.

Malcom Rewa was a serial rapist who acted alone. He was also a long term gang member of a different gang to the mob. In fact the gang of which he was a member didn't get on with the mob, they were enemies, shot and bashed each other from time to time, things like that. From what is known from the record Malcom Rewa raped alone, apparently even raping under disguise women he knew or who were friends or relations of others in his gang. In the investigation which resulted from the arrest of Rewa for his campaign, that had extended over decades, his semen was matched to the DNA recovered from the body of Susan Burdett. As it would seem quite remarkably this led to a retrial for Teina and two murder trials for Rewa resulting from Susan's death. This was despite that Rewa had never fitted into the picture previously but was now suddenly the prime suspect. He claimed having had consensual sex with Susan and after two trials was found not guilty of murder but guilty of her rape. Meanwhile Teina, against whom there was absolutely no evidence that he even knew Rewa, apart from two highly reliable crooks desperate police had found and who claimed Teina had told them the 'real story,' was found guilty of murder again. The doubts raised by the fact he was unable to find the home of Susan Burdett as he anticipated being rewarded, and that his story accusing 2 others of her murder was rejected because the men had alibis, was overcome by a couple of gaol house squealers. Two men who told the story as incredible as any Teina himself had ever imagined, they put the gang boss of the Highway 61 a man in his forties together with a 'trusted' youth from a rival gang in South Auckland. Well, I guess bizarre be-gets bizarre.

In the circumstances it was important to have some link to the murder scene of Teina Pora, who couldn't even find it a few months later, some direct evidence, some persons or person who could attest to seeing the 2 together were needed - a normal enough find if it was true and impossible if it wasn't. Imagining for a moment that Rewa suddenly acted out of type and found an accomplice, put aside that the 'trusted' one was a youth who presented as thick, who was unsophisticated, had no car, no money, nothing - then surely there must have been a tangible link between the two, being seen together but no the 'link' came  apart from that from a prison. This, courtesy of men paid in some way for their information and breaking the 'code of silence.' Quite why Teina would ever have confided in them anyway clearly was not a subject of intense interest to the police who instead of accepting they had the wrong man in Teina and the right man in Rewa, with physical evidence to prove the case, clearly decided to 'kill two birds with one stone.' The first bird being the embarrassment of police officers willing to even arrest Teina in the first place, taken that he even needed police 'assistance' with his confession, the second bird being Rewa - probably unlikely to ever get out of prison but a murder conviction would take care of that. Remember they could not give evidence of seeing the 2 together, probably because they'd been in prison at the time, they could only give evidence that Teina had told them they'd been together.

I get the impression that there was some disappointment among investigating staff that Rewa's dna was located because it undermined their credibility, although not to the extent it has now. Looking at it from another way, without the bullshit evidence of the 2 prison inmates, and the evidence 'against' Teina himself, being able to be rendered as obsolete, if not by the common sense that should have always prevailed, we see that Police effectively got the real murderer off. Even though Rewa was already in prison for attacks on 27 other women beside Susan Burdett, and would return there despite being found not guilty of the murder, he was effectively let go because a man who there was no direct evidence against, a proven opportunist and an unfortunate liar, was charged. If Teina had been let go as he should have been there seems little doubt that Rewa would have been found guilty of murder because there was no alternative offender. With Teina charged there was, given to the Jury, an alternative offender, without him then Rewa stood alone, as he should have, as both  rapist and killer.

Just going back for a minute. The only evidence against Teina was that apparently offered from his own mouth. So the Jury, indeed the Court allowed the Jury to pick among his lies for the truth despite in the incredibility of his tale. Looking a little deeper, they were asked to accept that some of his lies weren't lies at all but the truth, and that what he allegedly told those desperate inmates was the truth - how can anyone believe it. I'm sure the investigating police themselves didn't believe it but it was better than being outed as being principals in a Miscarriage of Justice. I'm sure they didn't believe it to the point that they'd would still however let a unsophisticated young man be tried for a murder he obviously hadn't committed.

What of Susan, or her family? Her brother Jim for example, who was quoted just this weekend last, of stating he didn't believe that Teina was guilty but that he thought Rewa was guilty of the murder. I can only wonder how they must have felt when Rewa claimed to have had consensual sex with Susan. They've been let down in a big way and continue to be let down - why? For the reputations of corrupt or inept police that were allowed to take this nonsense through our Courts. At some point the Judiciary take the blame, they've watched patiently for 20 something odd years as police have attempted to put a round peg in a square hole. If this disastrous case made any sense to any of the Judges that oversaw the trial or appeals, if there was no common sense that prevailed as to the weakness and unlikelihood of Pora being guilty before Rewa's dna was located what greater explosion did they need than that when it was. What greater cause than to see clearly that Teina Pora didn't know the victim, didn't know the street in which she lived, didn't know her house and was no where near her on the night Rewa killed her.

Updated 4/9/12:

Having earlier watched the TV3 60 Minutes show I must correct that there were witnesses who claimed to have seen Rewa and Teina together, but no mention was made of the  inmate witnesses who claimed that Teina told them of knowing Rewa. Those that did claim to have seen the two together had no corroboration of the fact. I still understand that there were 'witnesses' brought from the prisons to relate what they claim Teina told them and the 60 Minute show could only cover so much. The police have never disclosed whether the witnesses were paid or 'assisted' for their efforts and a fair assumption is that if they hadn't been the police would say.

I didn't know until watching the show that Teina turned down going home a decade ago in return for pleading  guilty to manslaughter. A fact which has resonated with me as to the dignity the man has found in his life. I also didn't know that Teina essentially turned down $50,000 in return for dropping somebody in it. Of course Rewa would have been the perfect person but that would have relied on Teina knowing at that time that Rewa was the killer, which of course he didn't because he'd never met the man and never been to Susan's home.

I note the efforts of ex policeman Tim Mckinnell (sp?) in fighting for Teina's freedom. I was shocked that so many of the files that he'd been given by the police were blacked out - we could call that The Justice of Darkness.