By Paula Penfold
A 60 Minutes investigation to screen tonight suggests a man has been wrongfully imprisoned for 19 years for a murder he didn't commit.
Teina Pora was arrested in 1993 for the rape and murder of Papatoetoe woman Susan Burdett.
But now an application to try to prove his innocence is about to go to the Governor General.
For a year after 39-year-old Susan Burdett was raped and murdered in her own home, police had no idea who had done it.
But then, in March 1993, Otara teenager Teina Pora told police he had driven the offenders to the scene and watched them commit the crime.
He was charged with her rape and murder and found guilty at two trials.
But now, lawyer Jonathan Krebs says serious flaws in Pora's confession form the basis of an application to the Governor General for the conviction to be quashed.
Mr Krebs and other experts believe Pora's story of being on the scene isn't true.
“My heart goes out to the Burdett family,” says Mr Krebs. “Not only have they lost a loved one, but now, more than 20 years after the death of Susan, they are having to relive some of what they've been through.
“But all of that I suggest, without any disrespect to anyone, pales into insignificance compared to the angst that may in fact be shown to have occurred if it's proved an innocent man has been in custody for the past 19 years for something he didn't do.”
The only DNA found at the scene belonged to one man, serial rapist Malcolm Rewa, who is currently in prison for sexual attacks on 27 women, including Susan Burdett. He was also tried twice for Ms Burdett's murder but both times the jury couldn't reach a verdict.
But now her brother, Jim, has a theory as to what really happened. He believes his "stroppy" sister would have stood up to Rewa with a baseball bat she kept to ward off intruders.
“I suspect that's why Malcolm Rewa killed her, having never killed his rape victims before,” says Jim Burdett. “She hit Malcolm and he took the bat off her and maybe he was very pissed off with her for her having a go at him and that was it.”
Nearly 20 years on, Mr Burdett says his anger has dissipated but he now wants the truth to come out.
“She was an ordinary, single woman, 39 years old as I recall, living a life she enjoyed and some prick came along and beat her to death,” says the victim’s brother. “That was it – wrong place, wrong time.”
Teina Pora's new legal team will seek a retrial or a pardon when they lodge their formal application.
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